We love Arizona… (check out this blog post), and without a doubt, at the top of our “cool things in AZ” list is seeing the wild horses along the Salt River.

The Salt River area located in Tonto National Forest is approximately 30 min east and north of Phoenix. The area’s natural beauty alone makes it worth the drive, especially at last light.

The combination of the desert mountain backdrop and wild horses in a February sunset is magic. The clean, crisp air and sense that anything could happen is addictive.

Last year we drove to the area twice and never were able to see any horses, but that was largely due to having no clue what we were doing. This blogpost is designed to help you (hopefully) actually see the horses when you make a trip of your own to the Salt River Region.

Let me qualify all the advice that I’m about to give with the standard “these are wild animals” disclaimer. These horses are free range and can move to and from wherever they want to in the area, so their patterns of movement can change at any given time.

A main feature of the area is the Salt River, which runs somewhat parallel with Bush Highway. Bush Highway has small side roads leading to different recreation areas along the river. The basic idea is to drive up and down Bush Highway, pull into each recreational area, get out of the vehicle, walk to the edge of the river, and look up and down stream for horses.

Last year, we made the drive to the area two times, and both times we had no luck. I’m not sure if we were just unlucky or if that is a typical experience. This year, in our first two trips to the area we again saw no horses. We were fortunate enough to stumble upon a man who told us about an area that he had seen horses a few days prior, so we decided to give it another try. This time we went to the Coon Bluff Recreational area and instead of just looking up and down the river, we walked East along the river for several minutes… and FINALLY we saw our wild horses.

The red arrow notates the precise area that we consistently saw horses.

If you would like to visit the area and take in a proper sunset from a great vantage point, this pin is a great place. It doesn’t look like much of a hill from the parking lot, but the view was surreal. The hike to this particular hilltop isn’t terrible, but it definitely doesn’t fall into the “easy stroll” category. We made the hike in twenty to thirty minutes with two young children.

Sunset at Salt River — The view from the top of the aforementioned hill in the Salt River Region.

You never quite know what will happen in the wild. We were walking along the riverbank to get closer to a large herd of horses that were crossing the the river downstream when we heard a scuffle in front of us... As we rounded the corner, we saw this pair of horses fighting it out, right in front of us. Witnessing the brutality of two horses fighting in the wild mere feet in front of you is breathtaking. The allure of walking up on a scene like this is half the fun of visiting this area.