This is our last day at Pipe Spring. We will spend much of the day packing for our return journey. Our checkout starts at 1:30. Then we’re off to our first hotel in Page, AZ. We’ll stop in Kanab to return our modem. Page is a logical stop considering the route and time available during the day. But it’s not as nice a city as Kanab. Here are a few pics one of the supervisors took to record our presence at Pipe Spring.

American Gothic

I suggested a bare-chested “Putin” pose. The boss told me if I wanted to do the Putin pose, I would have to look more macho by posing next to the longhorn steer inside the corral. That got him what he wanted. This is supposed to be American Gothic.

Arizona Strip

This is my favorite view from the fort. Pipe Spring is in the “Arizona Strip”. This is a 60-mile wide East-West strip of land between two impenetrable barriers — the Grand Canyon and the Vermilion Cliffs. Anybody traveling in the area is going East-West, and they are easily detected from the fort. That, plus the water, makes this a very strong position for a fort. You can see the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on the horizon, behind my left shoulder.

Courtyard

This is from inside the fort in the courtyard. You can see some of the Christmas decorations. You can’t tell from the picture, but the wreath in the background has a uniquely Paiute touch. It contains “Devil’s Claw”. This plant was grown in their “Three Sisters” gardens (beans, squash, corn). The seeds are edible. The exterior covering is black; long and curled like talons on a claw. The black exterior was soaked until it became flexible and used to provide the black fibers for their amazing baskets.