Explore Arizona’s Majestic Wild Horses with a Scenic River Paddle Trip

Arizona’s Tonto National Forest is one of America’s prettiest urban forests, located a short drive from the Phoenix metropolitan area. It’s a land of striking mountains and rock formations where cacti, trees, shrubs, desert succulents, and exotic plants thrive together in the harsh desert. Outdoor lovers will find a multitude of things to do here, from boating in surreal canyon lakes and hiking in eerily remote landscapes to exploring ghost towns that will make you feel like you’re living in the Wild West. Of the available activities, though, one that’s particularly memorable is visiting the gorgeous Lower Salt River and seeing its herd of majestic wild horses. 

It’s sometimes possible to glimpse the horses while hiking or driving near the Lower Salt River, but you’re more likely to spot them from a kayak, SUP, or inner tube on the river itself, where the horses come to drink and feed throughout the day. On the sparkling water, you not only get a front-row seat to the equine action, but get to stay cool and relaxed the whole time, as the desert breeze tousles your hair and the current pulls you gently downstream through the colorful canyon. 

The history of the Salt River horses is both tragic and triumphant. They belong to an equine breed known as mustangs, which have roamed the canyons, deserts, and mountains of the American West for centuries. Wild and free, mustangs are the feral descendants of domesticated Spanish horses brought to the area by conquistadors and missionaries in the 16th century. The mustang herds flourished throughout the West until around 1850, when ranchers and forest service officials started shooting and poisoning them en masse to reduce their numbers. 

But one wily band — the forebears of the Salt River herd — evaded extermination by hiding in the brush along the banks of the Salt River. Today, the Bureau of Land Management estimates that fewer than 500 mustangs remain in Arizona — 300 belonging to the tenacious Salt River group. The herd’s habitat encompasses 20,000 acres of Tonto National Forest, an area that extends beyond the river into the desert and the Pima-Maricopa Indian Reservation. But the mustangs’ safe place continues to be the Salt River — a trusted source of water, grass, shade, and protection.