WE VISITED JOHN DAY FOSSIL BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT in Utah from our base in Washington. That was back in August. Now we are using Utah as a base to visit NPS sites in Arizona. That’s the way it sometimes is in the West where distances are long, people are scarce and driving a hundred-plus miles to visit a National Monument is nothing special. As Bill Bryson says, if you see more than 5 people in a single square mile it you can bet it is probably a family reunion.
Pipe Springs NM Mormon wagon
Pipe Springs National Monument is all about the natural spring that supplied precious water for native plants and animals, Paiute Indians and then the Mormon who settled along the Old Spanish Trail. Despite the intrusion of the white settlers, the Paiutes were able to maintain a presence and today the Monument is surrounded by the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation. In fact, one of the Park Rangers (who incidentally appeared in the NPS film about Pipe Springs) is a native Paiute.
Enjoying the View from the North Rim Lodge
We never get tired of visiting the Grand Canyon. We have photographed the South Rim in all kinds of weather and hiked the Bright Angel Trail down to the rver and back in a single day. We have rafted through the Canyon for ten days, camping along the mighty Colorado. Connie even beta-tested one of the first satellite phones from inside the Canyon. So driving 135 miles for our first views from the North Rim seemed like a natural choice.
Blue and Gold
We couldn’t have picked a nicer day or a better time of year. The sun was shining, the golden aspens contrasting against the cerulean sky and all was well with the world. While the views from the North Rim doesn’t compare to the South, it is still the Grand Canyon, From the North or South, top or bottom, it’s not to be missed.
