ARIZONA STRIP

The 'Arizona Strip' is that part of the US state of Arizona lying north of the Colorado River and south of the state of Utah.

Contents

General characteristics

Access

Protected Lands

National Monuments

National Parks

National Recreation Areas

Wilderness Areas

Available Maps

★ Fredonia AZ ★ Glen Canyon Dam AZ ★ Grand Canyon AZ ★ Littlefield AZ ★ Mount Trumbull AZ ★ Tuba City AZ

General characteristics

The Strip is very typical of the American West in its red-rock canyon country, and the aridity of the climate, which leads to the predominance of sagebrush vegetation. However the first European settlers were witness to great stretches of grassland in such areas as House Rock Valley which are returning under better ranching practices. The land is also dotted with cedar trees, moving into pinon and juniper forests, and eventually ponderosa pines, spruce, firs, and aspen in the higher elevations such as the Kaibab Plateau.
It has been divided between Coconino County in the east (west of Kanab Creek) and Mohave County in the west. The only significant settlements are Fredonia on Kanab Creek and Colorado City on the Utah border to the northwest (see also Hildale, Utah). In the extreme west on the Virgin River is the small settlement of Littlefield just off Interstate 15. However, the Strip provides the only route accessing the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and numerous service communities catering to tourists exist along the Strip's main routes.
Since the area was first settled by Mormon Pioneers led by the indomitable Jacob Hamblin
in the mid-19th century, the Arizona Strip has been one of the last strongholds of the nineteenth-century practice of polygamy, though this practice was disavowed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) in 1890. Over the last century the region has been the subject of controversy because of the control groups such as the United Effort Plan, a polygamist Mormon offshoot, exert within the region. However, such groups remain merely a visible minority.
The Arizona Strip was long a cattleman's paradise with large stretches of grassy meadow in the valleys and the high Kaibab plateau as summer forage. At the turn of the last century, the Grand Canyon Cattle Company, otherwise known as the Bar Z Brand, ran upwards of 100,000 cattle throughout the strip. However, land and water use often led to friction between competing brands, and there are accounts of limited range wars between different outfits and between sheepmen and cattlemen.
The strip had been a battleground between Native American and white settlers during the 19th century, with Navajo parties crossing over the Colorado River and raiding Mormon settlements. However, peace was largely maintained through the diplomatic efforts of Jacob Hamblin. It also served as the primary route from Utah into Arizona, as the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River serve as almost impenetrable barriers to the south.
Today the Strip still is an important transportation route. More importantly, it provides the only access to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Route 67 heading south from Jacob Lake.

Access

The Arizona Strip is very sparsely populated and connected to the rest of Arizona by only two highway links, at Navajo Bridge and the Glen Canyon Dam bridge, both at the eastern end of the area and crossing the Colorado River. However it has multiple road links to Utah to the north, and as a result has stronger historic, economic and cultural ties to Utah than to Arizona.
Four primary roads enter the core of the strip – from Mesquite, Nevada, St. George, Utah, Colorado City, Arizona and Fredonia, Arizona. All four are dirt/gravel and should not be driven by low-clearance vehicles. Motorists should check with the BLM locally before heading into the strip on these roads, and be prepared – even rangers may not know current conditions, such as snow/ice cover and washouts.

Protected Lands

Most of the land in the Arizona Strip is managed by the United States Bureau of Land Management or the United States Forest Service. The area holds several U.S. Wilderness Areas and U.S. National Monuments and the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation. The southern part of the Arizona Strip includes the north rim of Grand Canyon National Park and the northern section of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

National Monuments

★ Grand Canyon-Parashant

★ Pipe Spring

★ Vermilion Cliffs

National Parks

★ Grand Canyon

National Recreation Areas

★ Glen Canyon

★ Lake Mead

Wilderness Areas

★ Beaver Dam Mountains

★ Grand Wash Cliffs

★ Kanab Creek

★ Mount Trumbull

★ Paiute

★ Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs

Available Maps

=== USGS 1:100 000 =

★ Fredonia AZ

★ Glen Canyon Dam AZ

★ Grand Canyon AZ

★ Littlefield AZ

★ Mount Trumbull AZ

★ Tuba City AZ

External links ==

★ BLM Arizona Strip Field Office

★ Kaibab National Forest

★ USGS Map Store