Big Western Skies, Ep. 44

juliemorrisonwrite
Nov 28
2 min read

Updated: Dec 2

Episode 44: Celebrating AZ

Lisa takes us to the Arizona Strip and back in time. Then Julie shares one of her favorite views of an Arizona vista.

Mug: National Park Geek

Winsor Castle

From Arizona: 100 Years Grand

by Lisa Schnebly Heidinger

Spend any time on the Arizona Strip – the section of the state north of the Grand Canyon – and it’s easy to wonder why this land wasn’t made part of Utah. Culturally the history of the area is so entwined with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that it would have made sense. But Utah’s loss is our gain, because the Arizona Strip is eclectic, colorful, sometimes inhospitable country rich in scenery and stories.

Jacob’s Hamblin was a important explorer through here. His brother Flintlock Bill put pipe on rock, moved back 40 feet, shot out the bowl.

Pipe Spring became a national monument in 1923.

Brigham Young decided the safest way to make sure the spring was never poisoned was to build the fort directly on top of Pipe Spring. The water comes up under the floor and runs down a trough … Designed in two wings facing one another, joined by stone fortress walls, Winsor Castle may appear humble but in its day it bordered on palatial, with a full kitchen, good sized bedrooms and general living quarters. (Often, NPS park rangers will re-enact daily life from the late 1800s there, baking bread, spinning or quilting, and working on the outbuildings that still support livestock and plants today.)

Visiting Pipe Spring you see what impact those efforts had on what had been only “the spring and the loneliness of the place.”

Sky Song

by Julie Morrison

After “A slash of blue” by Emily Dickinson

Blue stretches its languid limbs—

Sunlight blows a lazy kiss—

Clouds sketch new horizons of dandelion wisp—

In the classic ballad of a Western Sky—

Mountains rise and range

As valleys hug their feet—

A rivulet may tickle—

A horseman whistle bliss—