Pipe Spring National Monument

May 20, 2016  Pipe Spring

Gerry and I had plans to drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and I mapped out our route.  As usual, I checked to see if there were any interesting geocaches along the way.  I found a "virtual cache" at the Pipe Spring National Monument and it looked interesting so I downloaded it to my GPS.  

In order to claim the cache we had to take the tour of the fort at Pipe Spring.  It was one of the more interesting tours we have been to in a long time.  A Ranger led us on the 1/2 hour tour and filled us in on the history of the fort/ranch house.  He was very informative and answered all our questions but was stumped by one asked by a lady on the tour.  She asked why the Indians gave up the spring and ponds since water was so important.  He was a little perplexed and had to think about his answer.  He finally said they didn't have a choice in the matter.

There is a natural spring that runs under the fort and into two small ponds.  Rather than duplicate what Wikipedia has written about the fort, I am including a link to their interesting article on the fort.

Pipe_Spring_National_Monument

We managed to take a number of photos at the fort and could have taken many more.  It was quite an interesting place with a lot of history to it.

Paiute temporary living area 

Chuck Wagon

Winsor Castle Fort

First living quarters for early Mormon settlers

One of two sets of large doors in fort.

Kitchen/dining area

Family parlor with spring water running under the floor.

Dining table with chairs outward so prayers could be said kneeling

Spring water coming in

 Rather than trying to explain all about the Pipe Spring I am including a link to a virtual tour by the National Park Service.  It is a well done tour and very informative.  If you are ever in the Fredonia, AZ area I urge you to take the time to see the Monument.  We both enjoyed the tour very much.

Virtual-tours-winsor-castle.htm

We continued on to the North Rim after the tour but including that part of the trip here will make the blog too long.  North Rim will be included in my next blog.

Hope you enjoy the Pipe Spring information and virtual tour.