Lone-wolf rancher is 'one of a kind'

She lives alone at the end of a gated four-wheel-drive road in the Arizona outback, beyond civilization, nestled in a valley beside a stream guarded by cottonwoods. Mountains and mesas rise on all sides of the LF Ranch west of Payson, covered with juniper and prickly pear, catclaw and oak. The Arizona Trail runs through her property, bringing occasional backpackers. When a stranger wanders past her door, she greets him with an iron handshake and kind smile: "Maryann Pratt," she says. "I run this place." More than 100 cattle range over 37,000 acres of Tonto National Forest grazing lease, the Bull Springs Allotment. It's a three-day ride from one end of her spread to the other, 52 sections in all, full of Western lore and Indian ruins. Pratt works the ranch mostly alone, camping in winter storms, mending 70 miles of barbed-wire fence, hauling salt blocks by mule through sweltering summers. A floppy old hat tops off an outfit of baggy jeans and faded paisley shirt, blending into Arizona lore like camouflage. On clear nights at the ranch house, she sleeps outside under the stars rather than in a bed. Spend a little time at the LF Ranch and it becomes clear that Pratt is not your prototypical cowpoke but a modern-day pragmatist with cow dung on her boots. She runs her 57-square-mile spread with solar power and computers, hunting dogs and a shotgun...read more