Pack Trips in Arizona

Arizona riding runs from saguaro forest to ponderosa pine, and the elevation decides everything. Down in the Sonoran Desert, historic guest ranches near Tucson and Scottsdale work desert trails in winter sun; up on the Mogollon Rim and in the White Mountains, the same months bury the trails in snow while summer opens cool high country. In between sit the red rocks of Sedona and the high desert plains around Prescott. Guest ranches, trail-riding stables, riding academies, pack-trip outfitters, the state carries them all, each keyed to its own altitude and season.

Southern Arizona is guest-ranch country in the old sense. Around Tucson and the Santa Catalina Mountains, riders work desert trails through mesquite bosques and past ancient petroglyphs, on operations that still trade in the Old West: horsemanship clinics, long day rides, multi-day trail excursions. When most of the country is scraping ice off windshields, this region is in its prime season, drawing winter visitors and seasonal boarders in equal numbers.