Trailhead / site map
Dead Horse Ranch State Park
A Verde River park in Cottonwood with an ominous name and a gentle origin. According to the park, the family who bought the ranch in 1950 let the kids choose, and they picked 'the one with the dead horse.'
Access
Arizona State Parks, public, fee area, with camping and cabins. Hours (as of Oct 2026, check the park site): open year-round, with gates closing at dark; day use in fall and winter is 7 a.m.–6 p.m. daily (6 a.m.–7 p.m. in spring, 6 a.m.–8 p.m. in summer); the Visitor Center and Park Store are open 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. daily. Entrance fees (as of Oct 2026, check the park site): $10 per vehicle with one person, $20 per vehicle with 2–4 people, $5 per individual or bicycle.
Safety & respect
A low-risk park. Watch your footing at the Verde River and lagoon edges. Summer is hot, so carry water on the trails. Respect the wildlife and don't feed it.
Lore note
The park's official history says Calvin 'Cap' Ireys bought the ranch in 1950. He told State Parks Director Dennis McCarthy that his children named it. The first time the family saw the property there was a dead horse lying in the field, and when he later asked which of the ranches they'd seen they liked best, the answer was the one with the dead horse. Ireys sold the land to the state at a reduced price in 1973, and the park was dedicated on June 1, 1977. No haunting is attached to the name, and the ledger doesn't add one.
Map links
Official / public map link · Approx. 34.7531, -112.0221 (public reference only — verify on official maps before travel)
Sources
- Arizona State Parks — Dead Horse Ranch State Park (hours, fees; checked 4 Oct 2026): https://azstateparks.com/dead-horse
- Arizona State Parks — Dead Horse Ranch park history (C. R. Eatherly; read 4 Oct 2026): https://azstateparks.com/dead-horse/explore/park-history
- Arizona State Parks — Dead Horse Ranch maps (GPS coordinates to park entrance, 34.753082, −112.022116 WGS84): https://azstateparks.com/dead-horse/explore/maps
Dead Horse Ranch sits across the Verde River from Cottonwood, with river trails, lagoons and riverside cottonwoods. Its name sounds like the start of a ghost story, but it isn’t one.
How it got the name
The story comes from the park’s own history. Calvin “Cap” Ireys and his family were looking at ranches in the Verde Valley, and he bought this one in 1950. He later told State Parks Director Dennis McCarthy that his children had chosen it. On their first visit a dead horse was lying in the field. After the family had looked at several properties, Ireys asked the kids which one they liked best. They said the one with the dead horse, and that became the ranch’s name.
The name kept working on the legislators. The park history says that when the bill to buy the ranch went through in 1972, lawmakers kept joking about being asked to spend state money on a dead horse, and the jokes helped the votes along. Ireys signed the deed in 1973 at a reduced price, and the park was dedicated on June 1, 1977.
That’s the whole story: a family joke that stuck. There’s no ghost horse. The ledger keeps this page as an October name story because the record is so ordinary.
Make it a day
Dead Horse Ranch is a good base for the Verde Valley. It’s near Fort Verde State Historic Park in Camp Verde and Jerome State Historic Park in Jerome. Those two are stops on the ledger’s Verde Valley history day trip, with Montezuma Castle.
This page is for curiosity and trip planning. It isn’t safety or navigation advice, and Anomaly Ledger accepts no liability for your visit. Check the park site for current hours, fees and closures before you go.
Archivist’s margin
A spooky name with a paper trail. The source is a park director’s notes of what the owner told him, which is about as good as name stories get.