NV Strip to AZ Strip

After we left the Hitching Post on Tues. we drove down the street and around the corner to Johnny Walker's rv to get our slide fixed. Kudos to them for getting us in on short notice and out the door by 3pm. From there we drove across the street to Roadrunner RV park and stayed one night for $17 cheap! Next day we shook Las Vegas dust from our wheels and sped north west along I15 past more high desert landscape.

I15 cuts across the very nw tip of AZ. Most of this stretch took us through the beautifully rugged Virgin River Gorge.

The Virgin River runs along the east side of the gorge.

After winding our way through this scenic route, we eventually emerged in Utah and St. George. This pretty and historical town originated as a Mormon settlement back in the late 1800's when the Mormons were intent on establishing a kingdom in the Great Bason from Utah to Mexico.

Passing through St. George we picked us Utah59 se and crossed the border back into AZ on their 389. This area is called the Arizona Strip. Before white settlers arrived it was one vast grass plateau. The strip lies between the Vermilion Cliffs and the Grand Canyon. It is the first of a series of terraces that step up to the high plateau of Central Utah 200 mi north. Rain and snow melt flow southward to the hard shale layer on The Strip and is forced up to the surface at places such as Pipe Springs.

We drove along this high deseert plateau right into the Kaibab (kibob) Paiute Reservation and Pipe Spring National Monument.

Pipe Springs was the home base of the Kaibab Paiutes until the Mormon Church sent settlers there in the late 1850's. At first all the people sought to find common ground and live peaceably. Within 10 years, however, the Mormon cattle heards had decimated the grasslands and with them the Paiute way of life. Raiding Utes and Navaho caused trouble which was laid at Paiute feet and their doom seemed emminent. Their plight and that of the decimated Strip eventuallly gained the attention of the Federal government. Today the Kaib ab Paiute Reservation encompasses more than 120,000 acres ofplateau and desert grassland surrounding the Park. The tribe co-manages the park with the government.

After we got set up in our campground and had some lunchwe drove to the park entrance to see what we could see. Here is what we learned.
Pipe Springs National Monument sinsists of a joint Tribal-National Park Service visitors center providing a schedule of daily programs and information on other piblic lands. The museum focuses on the Kaibab Paiute history and introduces the history of Mormon settlement in the area. The park also encompases the Winsor Castle. This is a (rebuilt) fortification built by the Mormon Church to protect their ranch at Pipe Spring. This ranch was a tithe ranch--a place to put the cattle church members gave as tithes. The ranch made butter and cheese which it shipped to St. George to feed workers building the new temple there. Later, second, third,etc wifes were sent there to hide from federal troops when poligimy was declared illegal.

Pipe which gives the park its name

The "Castle" was built right over the spring and a pipe extended from it to the retention pond. This gave the place its name.

The ranch consisted of two long cabins which housed Mormon Malitia during the raids, and ranch hands in peacetime. The main buildings are built around a courtyard and consist of main living area, kitchen and bedrooms in one building and other bedrooms and cheese and butter making room below. They are connected by a catwalk. The complex is a short walk from the visitors center and ranger gives guided tours every half hour every day the place is open. After our tour we walked around looking at the corrals, cabins, garden, blacksmith equipment, etc.

After our tour we drove the four miles back to our campground. It doesn't look like much, but we get 30 amp full hookup, a great view and peace and quiet for $10 a night. The downside is no tv reception, no phone coverage, and no internet. We drove to the Chevron station just past the visitors center to post this blog.

'This place was recommended to us by our new Escapees Class of '06 friends Keith and Gail Lindeman. They are volunteers here at the visitors center, and just as nice as all the other Class of '06'ers we've met. We thank them for the recommendation.

Tomorrow, The Grand Canyon

Louise and Duane