Longhorns in Utah?

Hey Guys!! We’ve made it to the last stop on our Utah Big Five section of our National Park Tour. We stayed in a city called Hurricane for two weeks and after four weeks of tiny towns with tiny grocery stores and very few foodie options…we were loving this area of Utah!

The main reason we were in Hurricane was to explore Zion National Park. I’ll tell you all about our Zion shenanigans in the next post. Zion is getting a post all to itself. Yup, it was that epic.

So, what else did we do while in the area? Honestly…not a whole lot. We’d pretty much been going non-stop for three months straight and we were so worn out. We’d had plans to explore Zion, Pipe Spring, and then a few state parks in the area, but that didn’t happen. We needed some down time. Living in a small space does have its good points…we’re a close family…but it also has its drawbacks. We’re always within a few feet of one another. Personal space isn’t really a thing when you live in an RV and usually, that’s cool. Like I said, we’re a close family, but when you have five people who have zero personal space and they’re all tired and worn out…our home-on-wheels can feel a little more cramped than usual. We decided to, of course, explore Zion and Pipe Spring National Monument (since we are on a National Park Tour), but we skipped everything else…this time. We spent a lot of time just hanging out…trying the foodie spots…and resting.

Sometime in the early 1920s, Steven Mather (the first director of the National Park Service) was on his way from Zion National Park to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon when he stopped at Pipe Spring to rest. He became fascinated with the place and saw an opportunity to make a little money by having a place to stop on the way from one big National Park(Zion) to the other (Grand Canyon). So, he bought it with his own money and by 1923, Pipe Spring National Monument was born.

Back before it was known as Pipe Spring, this land was home to the Paiutes. They lived off of and cared for the land in and around the spring. In the mid 1800s, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claimed 160 acres of the land to use as a ranch for cattle. The first thing they did was build a fort over a small section of the spring so they would always have access to fresh water. Relations between the Paiutes and the LDS members escalated horribly when the Paiutes started hunting the cattle since the LDS members were hunting the deer in the area. The Paiutes weren’t being malicious…they didn’t see a difference in hunting one thing over another. The cattle, after all, were on the land they’d called home for 1000s of years. One thing led to another, and the ranch was abandoned for a time.

Not wanting to give up the land and all of the profit it was bringing in for the church, the LDS members went back to Pipe Spring and built a stronghold. This strong hold became known as Winsor Castle. Winsor Castle and the ranch was out in the middle of nowhere and needed a fast way to communicate with people. By 1871, 995 miles of telegraph wire had been installed and Pipe Springs was connected to the Deseret Telegraph system. Eliza Stewart was the first telegraph operator at Pipe Spring.

The ranch prospered from 1871 to 1879 making bimonthly delivers of butter, cheese, and cattle to St. George, Utah while the LDS Temple was being built. When the Temple was built, the Church no longer needed the ranch and in 1895 the ranch was sold to Maggie Heaton. Maggie welcomed any and all to her home. She’d have fresh water, pies, cakes, and fresh bread. And the rest…is history.

I’ll be honest here…this is the first National Park Unit that I’m not really sure why it’s a National Park Unit. Every National Park Unit tells a story…it preserves an important building/town/canyon/section of our Country that needs protecting or needs to be remembered. The story we were told at Pipe Spring National Monument, while interesting…wasn’t really any different than 1000s of other stories/places of that time. In fact, the story told at Pipe Spring National Monument was mainly about LDS Members and early days of their church and if I’m being completely honest with y’all…it wasn’t a kind story about them or their early life practices. Perhaps this was a learning story…if we forget our country’s history/mistakes, then we’re more likely to repeat them. I’ve watered down the history of Pipe Spring National Monument here…my intention is to keep it real, but not offend anyone. I feel like this park would be better suited as perhaps a State Park or a privately owned museum.

Oh, and one more thing…Pipe Spring National Monument is actually in Arizona…not Utah…so the Texas Longhorn in the photo was in Arizona. 😉 We did see some in Utah on the way into Zion though. A whole herd of them! They were very cool!

Let’s talk foodies! Now, keep in mind…we’d been out in the middle of little towns that didn’t have many options for foodies…and keep in mind we were recuperating. Yeah, recuperating… we’ll go with that. **wink, wink**

We kind of went crazy with the options for foodies. And, Guys…we’re not even sorry about it. Not. Even. A little bit.

One of my all time favorite things to do is peruse the ice cream sections in the different areas/regions. I’m always on the look out for a different brand or flavor. We started seeing the Red Button Brand as soon as we crossed into Utah and well…we had to try a few flavors. Our favorite (and one that’s not pictured) was the Root Beer Float flavor. It was really good!

Every time we’d head into Zion, we would pass this place called Fort Zion. This place was a souvenir store/restaurant/petting zoo. It was a really neat place and the petting zoo price was super reasonable. My favorite thing here was the cute little old western town they’d made!

I didn’t get any pictures of pretty flowers so I’ll leave you with this sunset picture. In the next post I’ll tell y’all all about our Zion explorations…so stay tuned!

See y’all down the road!

#NationalParkTour