Circle Z Ranch

Circle Z Ranch lies just southwest of the small town of Patagonia in southern Arizona’s grasslands and oak-studded hills. The property started out as a sheep ranch in the late 1800s; in the 1920s the Zinsmeister family of Louisville, Kentucky, bought it and built the original guest cottages, and it has hosted riders ever since, including the crews of Hollywood westerns such as Broken Lance and Monte Walsh. Lucia Nash and her husband bought the ranch in the 1970s, and their son Rick and daughter-in-law Diana run it today.

Circle Z is a winter ranch, open from late October to early May, when southern Arizona is at its most pleasant. Week-long stays run Sunday to Sunday, with shorter Sunday-to-Thursday stays also available. The ranch breeds, raises and trains its own horses, and rides go out on hundreds of miles of trails. The area is famous among birders, and hiking, nature walks and astronomy nights round out the week.

In 2013 the family placed 3,265 acres of the ranch under a conservation easement with the Arizona Land and Water Trust, so the landscape you ride through will stay open. Ask the ranch for current rates and what each stay includes.