Wide Skies Over Wickenburg

For those traveling far from home to get a taste of where the buffalo roam, Wickenburg is where you will be able to kick up some dust, take a load off their boots and hang their hat in the shadow of majestic saguaro glades.

The mid (19th) century frontier town claims the high desert territory an hour north of Phoenix (and an hour south of Prescott) as its own and has been known as the "Dude Ranch Capital of the World" in its time, if not the oldest Arizona town north of Tucson.

Visitors find five fine "Dude Ranches" there today, where riding, roping, campfires and elaborate barbeques welcome weekend cowboys.

A tour of the town starts at the Visitor's Center, housed in the 113-year old Santa Fe Depot on Frontier Street in the center historic downtown - the location of ten buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors mosey around shops, galleries and museums stocked with Southwestern arts and crafts, Native American jewelry, Mexican furniture, rugs, antiques, curios, pottery, western gear, tack, antiques and clothing. The Desert Caballeros Western Museum has one of the finest collections in the country when it comes to western art and frontier legend and lore.

Nearby at the Nature Conservancy's Hassayampa River Preserve, wayward riders dig into a lush, streamside habitat home to some of the Sonoran Desert's 230 species of birds as well as mule deer, wild peccaries, bobcats, ringtails, and even mountain lions.

At night folks dine on prime cuts under a starry sky at Wickenburg's largest and most luxurious ranch, Rancho de los Caballeros. The ranch covers a 20,000-acre spread of scrub, golf, trails and scenery with southwest-style accommodations, a spa and guided dude ranch must-dos through May.

Contact us today to help you plan your trip!