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Rachel Tueller, BLM Arizona Strip District Public Affairs Officer: “The Arizona Strip
is almost 2 million acres of land that is cordoned off by the Grand Canyon, and its’
that section of Arizona that is south of Utah and North of the Grand Canyon. There are about
4,000 miles of unimproved, dirt roads so it’s best to have high clearance, four wheel drive—in
fact, it’s the only way to explore the Strip.”
Jon Jasper, BLM Arizona Strip Recreation Planner: “Well this area is appealing to me because
it’s in the great confluence between three providences; the Great Basin, the Colorado
Plateau and the Mohave Desert and they all come together in the St. George [Utah] area.
So you can get the best of everything, a little bit of elevation, a little bit of low lands,
a little bit of canyons, a little bit of caves, it has a little bit of everything.”
Rachel Tueller, BLM Arizona Strip District Public Affairs Officer: “The one iconic
piece of history that I think most people connect with is the Mount Trumbull Schoolhouse
and back in the late 1800’s, early 1900’s there were a lot of pioneers that had actually
homesteaded on the Strip and so a lot of those folks have been tied to the land for hundreds
of years. You still see families out there ranching today. I think that’s one of the
most interesting parts of the human history out there.”
Jamie Rogers, BLM Arizona Strip District Rangeland Specialist: “You don’t expect to be driving
around in the desert and see, you know, a fully developed schoolhouse. And like you
said, that’s one of the most historical pieces of history out there. You go out there
and it’s just, where the kids went to school. Everybody that homesteaded, all the ranchers
out there, it’s where their kids went to school every day.”
Kevin Wright, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument Manager: “BLM provides all types of recreation
opportunities: camping, hiking mountain biking, four-wheel-drive, rock climbing.”
Rachel Tueller, BLM Arizona Strip District Public Affairs Officer: “It sounds like
an adventure to you. It always is when you venture out onto the Arizona Strip. So when
you get out there you got to have a sense for the elements and the critters out there,
all the different terrain and topography out there, and the weather.”
Jamie Rogers, BLM Arizona Strip District Rangeland Specialist: “The weather can change in seconds.
You will be out there, especially during the summer, and a thunderstorm will roll-in. And
where it was dry and hot, all of a sudden you have got a flash flood. Those are a couple
of things you have to keep in mind especially if you are going out for the first time or
have never been out before.”
Rachel Tueller, BLM Arizona Strip District Public Affairs Officer: “Things you don’t
want to trifle with you go out onto the Arizona Strip is that you need lots of food, water,
extra blankets, extra tires, shovels, lots of equipment. If you get stuck that you are
prepared to spend a little bit of time out there. You are not going to see a whole lot
of people.
I have been on hikes out there where you can actually hear the wind through the juniper
trees or the through the creosote bush. That is the beauty of going out to a site like
this. You really feel like you are connecting with nature. You feel like it is just you
and all of the elements. You are totally exposed out there. For me it creates this sense of
adventure, exploration, and discovery. Even if many other people have been to sites that
I have been to before I still feel like I am finding this place for the first time.”
Chris Williams: It is kind of nice not to see anybody. You are really on your own. No,
just I am kidding. It is just nice because you are just out here. Its like you go out
for a couple hours and you feel like you were gone for a week because are not with all of
the distractions of being at home and everything.
Jon Jasper, BLM Arizona Strip Recreation Planner: Very un-visited, you defiantly get a sense
that you are alone and in solitude. Arizona Strip is known for its remoteness, lack of
access, and it’s the hinterlands of the Grand Canyon. It is just kind of its own thing.
I mean, it is lands to be explored.”