If you’ve never heard of the Arizona Strip, you’re not alone. Tucked into the northwest corner of Arizona, this vast and rugged expanse of land sits largely forgotten between the Grand Canyon to the south and Utah to the north. Rough terrain and a serious lack of water have kept it that way for centuries, earning it the nickname of “Big Empty”. Arizona Public Media explored this enormous stretch of nothing in an episode of ‘The Desert Speaks’.
The Grand Canyon made travel from the south nearly impossible, and the only major river crossing for hundreds of miles was Lee’s Ferry, which closed in 1928 after a fatal accident. That remoteness shaped everything about the place, from the hardy ranchers who tried and mostly failed to make a living there, to the California Condors that were reintroduced in the mid-1990s and now soar the thermals above the Vermillion Cliffs. Lead poisoning from spent ammunition remains the biggest threat to the condor population, and conservationists are working hard to educate hunters about copper bullet alternatives.
At its southern edge sits Toroweap Point, one of the most dramatic and least visited overlooks in the entire Grand Canyon. Three thousand feet of sheer cliff. No guardrails. No crowds. Just the sound of the rapids far below.
