Still ridiculously behind in hiking write-ups, although quite a lot of my recent hikes were covering old ground, so I'm in no hurry to blog those. But even just for the new or relatively rarely-done hikes, I'm behind in those, too. This one, for example, is now about one month old.
Hiked Sunday, June 5. 1.5 miles. I woke up early on Sunday morning. After a late night doing astronomy outreach on the North Rim, I got to bed about 1am. It was an unseasonably warm evening, so I spent the observing period in just jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Slept that way, too, in a car, and without a sleeping bag. Finally, somewhere around 4am, it was cold enough to require me to pull a jacket over myself. Still, for early June, this was unusually warm.
Got out of the car around 5am, slowly got my stuff together and repacked the car, then drove back up to the North Rim to watch the early morning sun light up the canyon after sunrise. Probably 1/2 mile to 3/4 of a mile just going from the car to the rim and back. Also went to the lookout just south and west of the lodge.
I kind of wanted to take another hike, but I knew I had a really long drive ahead of me -- from the North Rim all the way back to the Los Angeles Area.
It's supposed to take about nine hours for that drive, but, being a Sunday afternoon, I-15, from Las Vegas to Los Angeles is going to add to that. Fortunately, being the week after Memorial Day, the traffic was a little less on other Sundays. Still added 30-45 minutes to the drive, though.
Long before I got to there, however, I had the drive from the North Rim to Las Vegas to make. From the North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, once you get a bit away from the rim, there's a pretty substantial meadow complex. Not sure why it's meadow and not covered in forest, like the land around. Perhaps had I stopped to read some of the informational placards along the way? ;D
On the drive in, the meadow was home to a herd of bison. No good shots of tham, unfortunately.
On the way out, the meadow was home to a small herd of deer, and multiple singlets and doublets of deer. A few were right on the side of the road. Need to take some care driving to make sure you don't hit any wildlife!
About two hours from the Rim, and well outside the park, is Ppe Springs National Monument. I had passed it on the way in, and figured I'd like stop on the way out, if time permitted.
It was crazy hot this weekend, so I knew I wouldn't do much walking later in the drive home. But, with it still only about 8:30am as I reached Pipe Springs National Monument, a short walk was going to be a perfect break.
The Monument is on the edge of the small town of Kaibab, AZ, along highway AZ-389. It's also adjacent to the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indian Reservation. There's a Chevron Station there that, on the day I drove through, had gasoline that was the cheapest I had seen along my entire drive, including St. George and Las Vegas.
The Monument is set against some nice, red buttes. Apparently, there's an imperme-able layer of rock beneath the butte, as ancient waters spring to the surface, here. That made the spot an ancient settlement in the pre-contact era, and an important stopping off point for early explorers and non-indigenous settlers in the area.
Finally, Brigham Young ordered the construction of what became known as Winsor Castle, directly over the springs. This became a regional stronghold for travelers across what is now known as the Arizona Strip. However, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lost ownership of the land, due to tax claims resulting from the shrinking of the Utah Territory due to territory lost to the State of Nevada and the Arizona Territory.
Nonetheless, a later iteration of Church, government, and business leaders eventually brought the area into the National Park system. The first National Park Service Director, Stephen Mather, was instrumental in this expansion. The Union Pacific Railroad President, Carl Gray, Los Angeles Times founder Harry Chandler, Church President (at the time) Heber J. Grant, U.S. Senator William King, from Utah, are among the figures in the founding photo at the end of this post.
On the day of my hot, it was hot, but still spring, with many flowers in bloom. I enjoyed my short, 1 mile or so hike. The trail is given as a 1/2 mile hike. It's probably another 1/2 mile roundtrip from the parking lot to the trailhead. Also, well over a mile walking to and from the North Rim, earlier in the day. But just calling this hike 1.5 miles.
Despite the short hike, it can get hot down here. There's a fair change in altitude on the hike, as well. But, take it easy, maybe drink some, along the way, and you'll be fine, even on a hot day. Just remember to cool off some, before you leave!
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