This trip is a continuation of my Southwest US reconnaissance tour of National Monuments, National Parks, and National Historic Sites.

This trip was originally planned following a counterclockwise route heading east towards Big Bend National Park in Texas. However the weather forecast indicated that Arizona would be over 90 degrees. I did not want to start the trip dealing with the heat so at the last minute I altered my plans at 10 p.m. Saturday and headed towards Las Vegas to reverse the trip and drive to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The trip to Las Vegas was uneventful. Not many people drive to Las Vegas on Saturday night so the traffic was light and I arrived at around 2 a.m. I got off the freeway to buy gasoline and was surprised to see the dense crowds of noisy, intoxicated people walking around and clogging the intersections.

I continued on Interstate 15 to St. George, Utah and headed east. I crossed into Arizona and entered Colorado City just as sunrise began to illuminate the landscape.

I should have lingered in Las Vegas for a couple of hours because I arrived at Pipe Spring National Monument at 6:00 a.m. and the place was locked up. Pipe Spring NM is located within the boundaries of the Kaibab-Paiute Indian Reservation. Not wanting to take a chance of getting in trouble parking in turnouts on the Reservation, I drove to the next town, Fredonia, to look for a place to eat breakfast. There were no cafes open in the small town and the official city rest stop was gated close. There was a law enforcement officer sitting in his car with mounted radar gun hoping to catch anyone exceeding the speed limit. I slept for about an hour in a Forest Service parking lot and headed back to Pipe Spring NM.

1. Pipe Spring National Monument, Arizona

Pipe Spring NM is a relatively small place. The National Monument provides a nice orientation to this area of Northwest Arizona called the Arizona Strip. Inside the Visitor Center is a museum containing displays describing the occupation of the site and area by the native Indians, Rancher, the Mormons, and finally the National Park Service. A chatty Park Service women at the entrance gave me a rundown of all the things to see and let me loose.

The main feature is a structure called the Winsor Castle. The structure is essentially 2 two-story buildings built parallel to each other. High walls and gates are constructed at the ends of the buildings to create an enclosed courtyard. In addition to Winsor Castle, the site includes a replica/restored ranch building, corrals (holding long-horn cattle and horses), and vegetable garden.

Wagons could drive into the compound from either end, load or unload cargo, and exit through the opposite end. The structure was designed to protect the inhabitants from Indian attacks. A small observation tower is located on one roof and many gun portholes were constructed in the upper walls.

Surface water is a rare occurrence in this part of the country and a spring discharging from the edge of a ridge must have been a blessing. Rainwater percolating into the ground is stored in a sandstone formation. Water discharging from a spring at the base of a ridge used to flow down to vast grasslands that provided food for the animals and Indian tribe that lived here. Due to seismic activities, the flow from the original spring has ceased but an adjacent spring has been diverted to take its place. The water once flowed at a reported 50 gallons a minute but now is around 3 gallons a minute.

To control and protect the water, Winsor Castle was constructed partially in the ridge to cover the spring. The water from the spring was directed to flow under the buildings and discharge to a pond on the opposite side.

A free Ranger-lead tour is the only way visitors are allowed to see the inside of Winsor Castle and the furnished rooms. I had a few minutes before the tour began so I raced over the Ridge Trail that leads to the top of the ridge behind the buildings. I was able to hike the ridge trail, take the tour of the building, wander around the grounds, and quickly scan the displays in the Visitor center in about 1 1/2 hours.