Dude, Where's My Mare? Trail-riding bliss among the saguaro cacti of the Arizona desert

1. 92 VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | M A R C H 2 O 1 5 M A R C H 2 O 1 5 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E 93
***
TIME TO HORSE AROUND WITH THE
CLASSIC BLOUSE FROM THE NEW
ALFRED SUNG COLLECTION AT MARK’S
($39.99, Marks.com)
CATCH AND
RECATCH
You may be in the
Sonoran Desert,
but the sunfish
and largemouth
bass are still biting
at tiny manmade
Lake Corchran
FOUR WALLS,
NO ROOF
You can ride from
sun-up on, but the
most breathtaking
views happen at
dusk, when the full
panorama of the
mountain ranges
at all cardinal
points gleams
BOYS’ CLUB
The ranch is home
to around 200
horses, includ-
ing many that
overwinter from
sister ranch Grand
View Lodge
in Minnesota
HERE’S MUD
IN YOUR EYE
All the lodging—in
traditional Santa
Fe style with adobe
walls—opens
onto desert scrub.
Remember to put
on your flip-flops
before you head for
the hot tub: area
snakes are rarely
belligerent, but
no one likes to be
stepped on
GraddyPhotography
T H E
GOODS Nex t De s tina tions
F IE L D T R IP
since 1957, he’s cooking up blue-
berry pancakes, as he does most
Thursday and Sunday mornings.
Settled in at picnic tables with
pancakes, chili eggs, and coffee,
we greet the day like the (okay,
pampered) cowboys we’ve become
in only a few short days.
Tanque Verde has been a guest
ranch for over 100 years; its 640
acres, home nowadays to nearly
200 geldings and 69 Southwestern-
style guest rooms, make it the larg-
est dude ranch in America. Size
matters. Having so many horses
and staff means every day there are
multiple rides, plus many guided
activities like mountain biking,
nature walks, and even astronomy
and cooking challenges. “It’s okay
if you just want to sit out on the
it’s 7:45 a.m. and we’re
already in the saddle, guid-
ing a string of horses up the
shoulder of Arizona’s Rincon
Mountains. It’s an early start
but worth it: the sky is incan-
descent, the desert scrub a soft
grey punctuated by hundreds of
saguaro cacti. We can see forever.
My mount, a palomino named
Dorado, picks his way across dry
washes that only a few weeks ago
were rushing cataracts distribut-
ing half the area’s 30 centimetres
of annual rainfall in a matter
of days. Our next stop winks in
and out of sight: the circa-1868
homestead house of Tanque Verde
Ranch. When we crest the final
ridge, Bob Cote greets us from
behind the outdoor grill: owner
patio and watch the sun go up and
go down,” Rick Hartigan tells us
during a riveting Nature Center
discussion of the area’s (many)
venomous critters. “But if you like
to keep busy, we’re happy to share
what we know.”
I want to know more about
horses, so I spend hours each day
reliving the “Hi-yo, Silver!” dreams
of my childhood. Dorado’s awfully
placid, but on another occasion I’m
consigned a trusty-looking fellow
named Boots and we get up a fine
froth, shifting smoothly from a
trot up to a canter (which, in the
Southwest, they call a lope). Sadly,
my technique is judged too sloppy
for fast lope rides, and I’m sent
back down to the walk/trot minors
and Dorado, who may not be my
Dude,Where’s
MyMare?
Trail-riding bliss among the
saguaro cacti of the Arizona desert
by john burns
HANGARS ON
Conditions make the
area storage heaven
for hundreds of
decommissioned
and mothballed jets
and fighter planes.
Pimaair.org
GET BACK
Sir Paul McCartney
is said to still own
an adjacent ranch;
locals can point out
where the Beatle
once rode
FEELING BROWSY
Hitting the border?
Stop in at Tubac, an
artists’ colony and
craft bazaar 100
kilometres south.
Tubacarizona.com
NE ARBY

2. 92 VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | M A R C H 2 O 1 5 M A R C H 2 O 1 5 | VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E 93
***
TIME TO HORSE AROUND WITH THE
CLASSIC BLOUSE FROM THE NEW
ALFRED SUNG COLLECTION AT MARK’S
($39.99, Marks.com)
CATCH AND
RECATCH
You may be in the
Sonoran Desert,
but the sunfish
and largemouth
bass are still biting
at tiny manmade
Lake Corchran
FOUR WALLS,
NO ROOF
You can ride from
sun-up on, but the
most breathtaking
views happen at
dusk, when the full
panorama of the
mountain ranges
at all cardinal
points gleams
BOYS’ CLUB
The ranch is home
to around 200
horses, includ-
ing many that
overwinter from
sister ranch Grand
View Lodge
in Minnesota
HERE’S MUD
IN YOUR EYE
All the lodging—in
traditional Santa
Fe style with adobe
walls—opens
onto desert scrub.
Remember to put
on your flip-flops
before you head for
the hot tub: area
snakes are rarely
belligerent, but
no one likes to be
stepped on
GraddyPhotography
T H E
GOODS Nex t De s tina tions
F IE L D T R IP
since 1957, he’s cooking up blue-
berry pancakes, as he does most
Thursday and Sunday mornings.
Settled in at picnic tables with
pancakes, chili eggs, and coffee,
we greet the day like the (okay,
pampered) cowboys we’ve become
in only a few short days.
Tanque Verde has been a guest
ranch for over 100 years; its 640
acres, home nowadays to nearly
200 geldings and 69 Southwestern-
style guest rooms, make it the larg-
est dude ranch in America. Size
matters. Having so many horses
and staff means every day there are
multiple rides, plus many guided
activities like mountain biking,
nature walks, and even astronomy
and cooking challenges. “It’s okay
if you just want to sit out on the
it’s 7:45 a.m. and we’re
already in the saddle, guid-
ing a string of horses up the
shoulder of Arizona’s Rincon
Mountains. It’s an early start
but worth it: the sky is incan-
descent, the desert scrub a soft
grey punctuated by hundreds of
saguaro cacti. We can see forever.
My mount, a palomino named
Dorado, picks his way across dry
washes that only a few weeks ago
were rushing cataracts distribut-
ing half the area’s 30 centimetres
of annual rainfall in a matter
of days. Our next stop winks in
and out of sight: the circa-1868
homestead house of Tanque Verde
Ranch. When we crest the final
ridge, Bob Cote greets us from
behind the outdoor grill: owner
patio and watch the sun go up and
go down,” Rick Hartigan tells us
during a riveting Nature Center
discussion of the area’s (many)
venomous critters. “But if you like
to keep busy, we’re happy to share
what we know.”
I want to know more about
horses, so I spend hours each day
reliving the “Hi-yo, Silver!” dreams
of my childhood. Dorado’s awfully
placid, but on another occasion I’m
consigned a trusty-looking fellow
named Boots and we get up a fine
froth, shifting smoothly from a
trot up to a canter (which, in the
Southwest, they call a lope). Sadly,
my technique is judged too sloppy
for fast lope rides, and I’m sent
back down to the walk/trot minors
and Dorado, who may not be my
Dude,Where’s
MyMare?
Trail-riding bliss among the
saguaro cacti of the Arizona desert
by john burns
HANGARS ON
Conditions make the
area storage heaven
for hundreds of
decommissioned
and mothballed jets
and fighter planes.
Pimaair.org
GET BACK
Sir Paul McCartney
is said to still own
an adjacent ranch;
locals can point out
where the Beatle
once rode
FEELING BROWSY
Hitting the border?
Stop in at Tubac, an
artists’ colony and
craft bazaar 100
kilometres south.
Tubacarizona.com
NE ARBY

3. 94 VA N C O U V E R M A G A Z I N E | M A R C H 2 O 1 5
GraddyPhotography
getaway steed but turns out to be
very good at another activity: team
penning. In groups, we coordi-
nate our mounts to nudge a herd
of calves across a ring and into
pens; our foursome easily outpaces
the competition to win bragging
rights. It may not be Lone Ranger
territory, but it’s immensely
satisfying nevertheless.
Tanque Verde’s slow time is
May to August, but even in early
November the place is quiet
enough that on cookout night,
we’re just a few dozen around fires,
listening to Bill Ganz sing Johnny
Cash as we wash down hamburg-
ers and grilled corn with Barrio
Blanco ales and the house spe-
cial: margaritas made with juice
from prickly pears picked on the
property. Nogales, Mexico, is only
100 kilometres south, and with the
guitar, the crackling fire, a bout
of line dancing, and all those bril-
liant winking stars (Arizona has
dark-sky legislation, and up the
road 24 telescopes are in service to
astronomers around the world), the
ancient desert rises up, blotting out
the very few modern intrusions to
convince us we’ve made it back to
the Old West.
My legs don’t see the romance,
apparently: after three days riding
the trails, I’m a little tender, so I
take advantage of one more ranch
amenity. Not watercolour lessons or
pickup tennis. I head to La Sonora
Spa for a deep muscle session that
squeezes the soreness out of my
jostled body. Saddle-sore no more,
I stop by the corral one last time
and reach through the mesquite
fence to wish Dorado happy trails.
Until we meet again. VM
House margaritas
are made with prickly
pears grown on site
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