The Arizona Strip - I

First, Wrapping Up The Valley Of Fire

How the early Indians illustrated hydrocarbon bonds 

The deep orange colors catch fire in low angle lighting

 The pastels also deepen in color in low angle lighting

It only looks like a swift flowing river

Thursday, March 12  -  We left St. George after spending two days of provisioning. We shopped at Costco and Walmart, then did laundry and got an oil change for Koko.  We discovered that this week is Spring Break for Nevada and Utah.  It's wonderful that people take their children camping.  But since we don't have small children any longer, we try to find places to hide!

Instant heart failure - After spending $350 on food, that night I noted the refrigerator was not on. If it had failed, we would be out the food and marooned until the refrigerator guts could be replaced. I cut it off and back on. It started normally and has given no problem since then. Fingers crossed.

Time Marches Over Us - We left Pacific Standard Time one day, got hit with Daylight Savings the next, then Mountain Time a few days after that. Now in Arizona we are on Mountain Time, without DS, unless you are on an Indian reservation where they observe DS. Got that? All I know is that it was dawn at 6 in California, now it’s 7:30 until there is some light out.

Milestones – We have spent 1,400 nights in Koko since September, 2007. She turned 80,000 miles last week.

Pipe Springs

As we were driving towards Kanab, we saw the sign to Pipe Spring National Monument.  I thought there would be nothing there and in 10 minutes, we would be back on the road.  I just love it when we come across wonderful unexpected surprises.  This was one of them.  We had a Ranger led talk.  Pipe Springs had been home to the Kaibab Paiute Indians for hundreds of years until the white man showed up.  The Mormans built a fort over the spring for their convenience, which cut off water to the deer and the Indians.  The cattle ate the grasses which were a food source for both the animals and the Indians. There was no fighting with the Paiute, but the Navajo were a different problem as they were raiding both whites and Paiute’s.  The fort, Windsor Castle, is a marvel.  The home is on one side and across the enclosed courtyard was the spring, which was used to make butter and cheese.  This was taken by wagon to St. George, which is one hour's drive today, but was four days by wagon.  All of the food, including cattle, was to feed the men building the temple at St. George.  This trip was made twice a month.

In the Visitor's Center, we met a young ranger and he told us about two viewpoints of the GC that he liked that are way the hell down dirt roads on the north rim. We bought a huge BLM map and Don spent several hours mapping out these places.

Toroweap – This has been on my bucket list for over a decade. 63 miles down a gravel road to an overlook of the GC. Unlike at the North and South Rims, this overlook goes straight down 3,000 feet. No ledges. I managed to get within two feet of the edge, but had to jump back as all sort of sensations were going in my chest. You can see Lava Falls from here. It’s supposed to be the worst of the rapids. But at over a half a mile away, the rapids look look riffles.

It was a LONG day and we were tired puppies when we got home.

I found a place where I was comfortable taking pictures. I saw one woman on the edge. She was squatting taking pictures. The toes of one foot were over the edge.