Hitting the Desert Trail
High and Dry
Holiday Ranch: Wickenburg sits 2,100 feet high, 55 miles northwest of Phoenix, and sports three dude ranches—excuse me—guest ranches. While most Western ranches are open for the summer, these open in the fall and close when the desert starts heating up, around April 30.
Wickenburg, on the northern edge of the Sonoran Desert and on the banks of the Hassayampa River, was once known as the guest-ranch capital, but only three survive, covering the spectrum from the resort-like Rancho de los Caballeros to the rustic Kay El Bar Guest Ranch. We were headed for the Flying E Ranch, somewhere in between, where we would have 20,000 acres of desert to explore on horseback.
Sue mounted a little mustang named Chief and I climbed on Scotty, a big red, with a wrangler in the lead. (These ranches do not let you just ride out on your own.) Don’t think of the high desert as one big sand pile. We rode a landscape studded with giant, many-armed saguaros, ocotillos, and light green chollas. Floppy-eared jackrabbits dashed across our path.
