Go potty behind a bush? We don’t think so. One day without a shower? Yuck.

It’s a fact. Many of our citified counterparts are happy to indulge some alternatives to urban recreation such as hiking and road trips — unless they involve overnighting. In that case, sleeping in the wilds in any rig less primitive than a fully equipped RV smacks a bit too much of the Dark Ages.

That’s changing. Now (even in Arizona) people who turn pale at the prospect of sitting on the ground have no good excuse for not heading to the outback. Assorted entrepreneurs in southern Arizona have created cozy sleepover enclaves that combine the comforts of home in settings that are delightfully otherwise unencumbered with civilization. Some are B&Bs; some are hybrids — all are worth a visit.

Across the Creek at Aravaipa Farms

Long before specialty food and drink shops (AJ’s, Trader Joe’s) became common in the Valley, there was C. Steele. Her (the C. stands for Carol) shops in Phoenix and later Scottsdale offered up exquisite/exotic culinary delights and all the fun gear (linens to corkscrews) with which to present them.

Then her urban lifestyle took a back seat to a desire for the boondocks. Carol bought several hundred acres of magnificent outback desert and mountain terrain mingled with orchards along Aravaipa Creek, just downstream from one of the world’s most renowned nature preserves. She created five wonderful guest “casitas” and a notable evolution of the B&B concept.

Evolution means guests get three meals a day. And they ain’t skimpy or mundane meals. Carol is a member of the Phoenix-Scottsdale Culinary Hall of Fame. Breakfasts start gently with fresh fruits and juices from Carol’s trees, cheeses, cereal and coffee. Lunch is picnic basket fare with sandwiches, fruits and cookies. Dinner is a full-blown group feed that begins with a wine-enhanced social gathering and progresses to Carol’s tantalizing entrée of the day.
Hiking, photography, reading and casual walking among the serenity in and around the farm are delightful pursuits. Each casita includes fireplaces inside and out, fountains and both Southwestern and African décor.

Lazy J2 Ranch

Sidney Spencer’s 7,000-acre spread of rolling grasslands and giant oaks in the San Rafael Valley of southeastern Arizona has been in the family for generations. She left Arizona in her younger years to work on Wall Street and in the film industry. Those travels took her around the globe and made her a confidant of people like Jacques Cousteau and Prince Ranier of Monaco.

Ten years ago she got the bug to come home. Now she raises range-fed cattle, trains horses (she’s one of only a few trainers in the country schooled by legendary horse trainer John Lyons in Colorado), and offers outback opportunities (trail rides, large-group barbecues, hot-air balloon lift-off sites, hunting camp headquarters and rustic lodging in conjunction with those activities).

Lodging at the Lazy J2 may mean sleeping in a one-bedroom ranch house or under thick comforters on a screened porch. The hot tub’s just out the door. Costs vary, depending on the activity. A group of hunters who stayed at the ranch recently paid $200 per person per night, which included all meals.

The Lazy J2 also has a back-up lodging deal with Tierra de los Sueños (see below). Overflow overnight guests at the ranch have the option of driving west to the B&B near Patagonia for additional cozy rooms and meals.

Muleshoe Ranch

On some modern maps, this place is still named Hooker Hot Springs. But don’t get excited. Henry Clay Hooker was one of several ranchers who owned this way-outback site at the base of the Galiuro Mountains since the late 1800s. Today the 85-square-mile property combines aspects of the Old West with those of a spa, academic research center, hostelry and nature preserve. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) operates Muleshoe “headquarters” where a visitors’ center and lodging are sited. Five fully furnished, completely renovated ranch buildings among dense clusters of trees and shrubs are available for $95-$155 nightly, depending on size and number of beds. Meals aren’t included, but each “casita” comes
equipped with kitchen and cooking and dining gear.

The most unusual treat at this remote desert site is the hot springs (thus the spa component) that burble out of the hillside above the ranch at a respectable 137 degrees. By the time the water reaches “cowboy hot tubs” (circular galvanized steel cattle watering tanks eight feet across and two feet deep) near the casitas, it’s cooled to a still-bracing 117. Tubs are reserved for paying guests only.

Visitors to Muleshoe can hike on more than 22 miles of established trails through magnificent canyons and over rocky ridgelines. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service (through a cooperative management agreement with TNC) offer road access to the upper reaches of the old ranch site, all the way up into Ponderosa pine forests. The remains of other ranch sites, now slowly fading away, are fun to visit via four-wheel-drive, horse or foot.

Back at the ranch, a nicely stocked book and video library are available in a common area (including fireplace, piano and facilities for larger groups) that once was the main ranch house.

Tierra de los Sueños

The name translates from Spanish as Land of Dreams. For owner/operator Lisa Sharp that may well be true, since her family has owned a large hunk of the adjacent San Rafael Valley for nearly a century.

Sharp runs a true B&B, with lodging available in both stand-alone “bunkhouses” and rooms in a grand old adobe ranch house. She serves up a scrumptious breakfast in the great room, where a huge fireplace and overstuffed sofas mingle with Southwest décor and photos from cattle ranching days gone by.

Los Sueños is located on 55 acres of giant cottonwoods and oaks tucked back up against rocky hillsides covered in juniper. Nature trails (including a local segment of the Arizona Trail) offer access to pristine bluffs and canyons near Harshaw Creek. Large corrals on the property house several or all of Lisa’s five horses, and at the far western fringe of the site lies a walk-through, stone-lane labyrinth that reportedly does good things to the mental state of those who stroll to its nexus. Los Sueños has a reciprocal arrangement with the Lazy J2 Ranch (see above), whereby B&B guests who want some horseback activity can put together one or more days’ riding experience in the San Rafael Valley.