Boondocking at Sonoran Desert National Monument

     After leaving our friends at Saddle Mountain, we were happy to find a boondocking area only 2 hours away. 

Sonoran Desert National Monument Dispersed Camping

We saw absolutely NO big trees. We wonder where this came from and how long it's been there?

Beauty everywhere!

We were amazed to see so many sagara cacti!

     We loved that this place was right off the interstate. The road noise was audible but not annoying. However, we would not recommend this site for big rigs. Our 40 foot 5th wheel was able to squeeze into an area off the road but only because we arrived around 3. Any available space was snatched up before dark. Also, please note that there is no place to turn around on this road and it simply dead ends into sagebrush. This was another time that I was grateful for my husband's awesome backing skills because we used them!

Pipe Spring National Monument

     While traveling from Valley of Fire State Park back to Page, Arizona, we opted to stop at this national monument for a break in our day. We were able to pull in with our rig easily but RV parking is VERY limited. As it turned out, we were the only visitors at the time and that was just fine with us. It's our belief that with Zion and Bryce so close, Pipe Spring is often overlooked by tourists but we had a great time here!

     First, we wandered about the Cultural Museum and watched a 25 minute movie on the history of the area. The museum itself is chock-full of artifacts from both the Kaibab Paiute Indians and the Mormon pioneer families who lived here in days gone by. Makayla took all the pictures inside the museum.

Household items

A butter churn!

Paiute weaving exhibit, showing how baskets were made.

The children love these mini life-like scenes

     Pipe Spring lies on the Arizona Strip, which is nearly 8,000 square miles separated from the rest of Arizona by the Colorado River (and the Grand Canyon), and has been an oasis for hundreds of years. 
     The earliest ancestral Puebloan peoples lived here in pit house villages and farmed. Between 1000 and 1250 their culture faded from the Arizona Strip, possibly due to drought. 
     The Kaibab Paiutes were the next people to inhabit the land seasonally. They alco grew maize and beans. Their basket work was amazing - some types could be used for cooking and carrying water they were so tightly woven! European diseases introduced in the 1500s, as well as Navajo and Ute slaving raids, reduced the Kaibab numbers to around 1,200 by the 1860s.
     By 1776 Missionaries and explorers slowly began working their way into the area. Drawn by the high grass and the water source, Mormon ranchers began settling the Arizona Strip in the 1860s. In 1860 James Whitmore bought a title to 160 acres around Pipe Springs and the next 8 years were filled with Navajo raids, and he was eventually killed in one.
     In 1870 Brigham Young (president Mormon church) bought Pipe Spring from Whitmore's widow and had a fort built. Winsor Castle covered the main spring and had 2 sandstone block buildings that faced a courtyard enclosed by solid wooden doors. The purpose was to have grazing rights and a water source for the "tithing herds" of the church. The remote fort prospered and bi monthly deliveries of steers, butter, and cheese were made to St.George, Utah. When the Federal Law made polygamy a felony, Pipe Spring became an excellent place to hid plural wives.

      So, our next stop was a tour of Winsor Castle. I didn't take nearly enough pictures of this amazing place but hopefully you'll get a little glimpse of it.

By 1871 Brigham had set up a telegraph office at Pipe Spring for the women to run. It could send a message 30 miles.

One side of the fort.

You can see the sandstone block walls and the huge wooden doors.

The "honeymoon suite". Many Mormon couples from Arizona traveled the "honeymoon trail" past Pipe Spring Ranch on their way to be married at the temple in St. George, Utah.

      The spring came through the wooden trough and kept this room cool year around. This is the room where the wives and children worked. All day long, they were churning butter and making cheese. It was important that they stay out of sight, in order to keep their husbands from being sent to jail for having multiple wives. With 80-100 cows that the men and boys milked twice a day, you can imagine how much butter and cheese they produced!

A covered wagon.

We hiked up the ridge behind Winsor Castle and had an awesome view of the whole place. I was thrilled that we could see the wagon trail yet!

     This is the back of Winsor Castle. You'll notice the watchtower. A child was usually on guard and if lawmen were seen approaching, he would shout a warning. Some of the women and children would scamper out the back door and hide in the hills until they were gone. What a life!

     Prairie grass used to grow chest high out here but overgrazing and farming caused the rich topsoil to blow away and sagebrush took over. This eventually led to failure for the Mormon church and the ranch was sold. For years the doors remained open to travelers of all kids. In 1923 President Harding proclaimed Pipe Spring a National Monument.

Ethan wanted a picture :).

Working hard on their Jr. Ranger books.

Miss Emily

    So once again, a not-so-popular-place was one of our favorites! Definitely do stop in if you're ever in the area.

Exploring Walnut Canyon

     Yesterday we pulled into this campsite near Flagstaff, AZ. There is dozens of lovely camping sites in this National Forest area all free for the taking. Due to recent storms, it is extremely muddy. We did use our 4 wheel drive and I did close my eyes at one point when it looked as though our camper was going to slam into a gate. But Eldon managed to slide us into a great spot with no damage to to truck or camper! Today the sun is shining and the puddles are rapidly drying up! The only downside to this place is the large amounts of trash and glass laying around. 

     We had time to spend a few days in the area so I began searching for free things to do. To our surprise, Walnut Canyon is one of the coolest National Monuments we've been to yet and it was only a few miles from our boondocking site! And since Makayla qualifies for the every kid in a park pass, it was free for us. Before I even start on the pictures, I'll just say this we loved this place way more then Mesa Verde.

     Walnut Canyon is the site of  hundreds of cliff dwellings built between 1125 and 1250. The canyon rims, relatively flat with pockets of deep soil, were the main farmlands. Most homes were situated on cliffsides facing south and east to take advantage of sunlight. The canyon cliffs provided natural shelter from weather as well as enemy tribes.

     We hiked the 1 mile loop around Island Trail which took us past 25 dwellings. It included 240 steps and a descent (and ascent) of nearly 200 feet. After a long rest, during which the children completed their JR Ranger books, we hiked the .7 mile Rim Trail that overlooked the canyon.

Several varieties of pine trees here perfume the air deliciously!

So many dwellings! In the 1800's many "professional thieves" used dynamite to get into the dwellings in hopes of finding treasure. 

The children loved walking into some of them!

Looking down the canyon.

How would you like this for a front door view?!

We enjoyed all the signage about plants and trees along the trail.

Many are falling apart.

Here you can see the smoke left from fires.

Loved all the gnarly trees.

So practical and efficient!

The trail was paved the whole way.

A Yucca plant.

I wish pictures would capture the real beauty and smell!

Cute little rock sign.

A garden along the rim. Although, I'm positive the natives didn't have chicken wire around their corn 😂.

The canyon used to flood several times a year a provide water for the tribes to store but now dams divert water from running through here.

Even though it's October, we still found flowers!

     This place will definitely go high on our list of favorite places! Even though the Island Trail was steep, it was very doable if you go slow.

     Our primary reason for wanting to spend a few days near Flagstaff was to pick up 1 more solar panel. We have 2 and it's great if we watch our electric usage closely and the sun shines most of the day. But cloudy days are hard. Eldon was thrilled to pick up a panel that was a display model 25% off! He came home and installed it immediately yesterday. So far it's working great!