 Very few people think of the White Mountains when they think of Arizona. About four hours northeast of Phoenix, rising to more than 11,400 feet, the White Mountains stand in majestic contrast to Arizona’s lowland deserts. My friends at home in Wyoming envied me for a trip that would get me out of the winter snow, but they clearly didn’t check the forecast.
The first flurries start swirling through the dark sky not long after I land at the Show Low airport. I am greeted by Allan, one of Hidden Meadow Ranch’s wranglers, and as we leave the grasslands and start climbing, the flurries soon change into a full-fledged snowstorm. Having left Wyoming that morning under the same conditions, I feel right at home.
Hidden Meadow Ranch sits at an elevation of more than 8,500 feet near the charming town of Greer, in Apache County. The property is nestled in a pristine, remote mountain valley, surrounded by two million acres of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. The 150-acre private paradise is shaded by aspen and Ponderosa pine trees. First homesteaded in 1916, the ranch had only two owners until December 2000, when Tim and Casey Bolinger, a Texas couple who had relocated to the Valley, fell in love with this beautiful, secluded setting and acquired it, along with Gary and Jeanne Herberger.
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