The Roarbots’ series of NPS Adventures takes a big-picture view of one location within the National Park Service and highlights some of the best activities that site has to offer. This is usually done through a kid-friendly lens and almost always includes activities and suggestions we can recommend from personal experience. And pictures. There are lots and lots of pictures. Glad to have you aboard!

Welcome to Pipe Spring National Monument!

Stats

• Pipe Spring National Monument
• Location: Fredonia, Arizona
• Established: 1923
• Admission: $10/person (valid for 7 days); children 15 and under are free
• Social Sites: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

Pipe Spring is a little bit in the middle of nowhere. It’s in far northern Arizona, in a part of the state called the Arizona Strip (because it’s the strip of land separated from the rest of the state by the Grand Canyon). However, it’s precisely for this reason that the site is notable.

In the late 19th century, the Pipe Spring ranch was purchased by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and became a Mormon outpost… and part of Brigham Young’s westward expansion. It was meant to handle church tithing (members gave 10 percent of their cattle herds to the church) and be a refuge from both Native Americans and the federal government.

Its relative isolation kept the group mostly safe from the increasing number of U.S. laws making polygamy a felony. Until 1895 when those laws caught up to them. It was then that the Mormons sold the ranch, and even though it was privately owned, it became a rest stop for all sorts of travelers through the area.

In 1907, the Kaibab Indian Reservation was formed around Pipe Spring, and the ranch became federal property in 1923 when it joined the National Park Service (really as a convenient stopping point for visitors traveling from Zion National Park to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon).

Today, it remains a somewhat convenient stop between the much larger national parks that surround it, but it’s still pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It’s surrounded by 120,000 acres of Kaibab Indian Reservation, which is mostly plateau and desert grassland – and home to a mere 250 people. So the drive there is vast, gorgeous, and desolate.

(Click on all pictures to embiggen.)

Visitor Center & Museum

The visitor center and museum – which is located on the Kaibab Indian Reservation – is jointly administered by the National Park Service and the tribal government of the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians. The museum exhibits focus on both Paiute culture (historical and modern-day) and Mormon settlement in and around Pipe Spring and northern Arizona. (Click here to take a virtual tour of the museum.)

There’s also a super-informative 25-minute film called Encounter on the High Desert. You can watch a short excerpt of the film here.

Hiking & Grounds

Just out the back door of the visitor center is the boundary between the Kaibab reservation and NPS land. Pipe Spring ranch, which is a brief walk from the visitor center and on federally owned land, is relatively small and clustered close to Winsor Castle.

In addition to the castle, there are a couple cabins with historical exhibits inside and (still functioning) gardens, corrals, chicken coops, and orchards. The grounds are alive with animals and crops, and the ranch feels like it might have back in the 1880s… just with far fewer people. During the summer months, though, there are occasional “living history” demonstrations.

There’s also a 1/2-mile trail – the Ridge Trail – that loops around the ridge behind Winsor Castle. It provides some stellar views of the Arizona Strip and the surrounding plateaus.

Winsor Castle

Winsor Castle (named after Anson Perry Winsor, the first ranch manager) is a brick fort that served as headquarters for Pipe Spring ranch. In 1871, the year it was built, it also became the first telegraph office in Arizona.

Notably, it was also built directly over the local water source (a fresh water spring from which the site got its name), thereby claiming the water for the Mormons – and excluding the native Paiute people.

Today, the castle is open for guided tours (offered every half hour). Or you can take a virtual tour here.

Junior Ranger

Like most NPS sites, Pipe Spring has a park-centric Junior Ranger program. The book focuses on Mormon settlers, pioneer life, Paiute Indians, and the geography/ecology of the Arizona Strip.