By Roger Naylor
Somewhere out on the trail, it hits you—a powerful moment of clarity. Your eyes sweep the landscape. Rolling hillsides bristle with tall stately saguaros that rise toward a sky that feels achingly blue. Mountains spill toward the horizon. It feels epic yet the cradling quiet creates an unexpected intimacy to the surroundings. Sounds remain small and close at hand. A bird chirps from the creosote. A lizard scurries over gravel. The saddle creaks.
You’re riding a horse through America’s most iconic western landscape; all you can see are cacti and mountains. It could easily be 150 years ago. Time has no meaning here. That’s when you have your epiphany: life can be simple.
So many of our days are spent hurrying from one task to another. Life seems to whirl around us, a blur of responsibilities, demands, and screen time. But not here. Not while you’re in the saddle riding through the foothills above Castle Hot Springs. For that stretch of time, nothing else seems to exist.
“We like to give our guests an adventure to remember,” says Josh Wamboldt, wrangler, and guide. “Since we have 15 horses to choose from we can match our horses to fit each guest, to match up with their riding experience.”
Wamboldt, who runs the outfitter service for the resort, looks born to the saddle with his worn cowboy hat, leather chaps, and a drooping mustache. He’s been riding and rodeoing for more than three decades. The same goes for Alex Schepers, head wrangler, and guide. Both love sharing their passion with guests of the resort.
Horseback riding tends to be one of the secret pleasures of Castle Hot Springs. Guests don’t see the horses on the property so they often don’t realize that rides are offered. Each outing starts with a 10-minute ride in a UTV from the Lodge to the stables and hitching rail tucked away in the hills on the east side of the resort. Each guest is carefully paired with just the right horse. Then after a short safety talk, it’s time to mount up and ride.
All trail ride groups are intentionally kept small. It might just be you and your sweetheart. Soon as you start out, you’ll climb a low hill, gaining just enough elevation to push back the horizons. Scenic vistas wrap around you. Everyone deserves to see the Arizona desert from the saddle. It just feels right. This is cowboy country and you’re continuing a proud tradition. If John Wayne came riding over the next hill it wouldn’t seem odd in the least.
“On our rides, we try to provide information on the flora and fauna of the desert, the history of the resort, or information on our horses,” says Wamboldt. “Many just want to spend time on the horse and enjoy the quiet, and that’s fine, too.”
There’s a rare sense of freedom found while riding a horse in a wild country. Even as you relax, you feel even more alert. You’re able to savor the sights and sounds around you all while forming a special connection with the beautiful, graceful animal between your knees. It keeps you very much in the moment. Everything else just falls by the wayside.
The hour-long rides make a gentle loop along the backcountry trails of the resort and pass through the Castle Hot Springs agave farm, where guests can see the many varieties of graceful plants that will one day be distilled into small batch tequila. If you suddenly start craving a cold margarita, bartenders at the 1896 Bar will be happy to oblige.
“For our longer rides (90 and 120 minutes), guests will experience an area of the resort that is not mapped out and only accessible via horseback,” says Wamboldt. “For our more experienced riders, we try to cater a ride that will be enjoyable to them, sometimes exploring the many wild burro trails that have been made. Our goal is to make the rides match what the guest wants. If they want to ride several times on one visit, we can change up the routes so they’ll have a different experience each time.”