Peach Springs
Peach Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. Peach Springs serves as the administrative headquarters of the Hualapai (meaning People of the Tall Pine) people, and is located on the Hualapai Reservation.
History
The Hualapai tribal capital is located in the town of Peach Springs, 50 miles east of Kingman. The towns recorded history goes all the way back to 1775 when a gray-robed friar named Fransisco Garces visited the spot and called it Saint Basil’s Wells. Next was Lieutenant “Ned” Beale’s famous camel-mounted expedition in 1858. Following Beale, Mormon missionaries entered the area and, according to legend, sowed the peach trees that the town later adopted as part of its name.
Hualapai Reservation
Hualapai means “People of the Tall Pine.” In the 1860s, the Hualapai fought a series of fierce battles with troops based at Fort Mohave before being allowed to settle on reservation lands. Grand Canyon West is the reservation’s main attraction. Located about 150 miles west of the South Rim, the area is situated in unspoiled wilderness and includes some 108 miles of scenic frontage along the Colorado River. Peach Springs is about a 2-hour drive from Flagstaff and Grand Canyon West is about 20 miles north of the town.
Diamond Creek
Diamond Creek is a small tributary of the Grand Canyon that flows year-round, joining the Colorado River 16 miles north of the dusty Hualapai Indian tribal town of Peach Springs, which is situated at the head of the southern end of Peach Springs Canyon. This is one of the larger of the many hundreds of branches of the main canyon. It deepens gradually but steadily from an elevation of 4,950 feet at the town to 1,550 feet at the river.
Access
The track down to the Colorado starts from the end of a residential street at the northeast edge of town; for the first few miles, the road passes along a dry, dusty stream bed in a small canyon, past clumps of trees and bushes, and then crosses more open land with scattered cacti - close to the springs after which canyon and town are named.
Vegetation
The canyon proper starts 6 miles from town, the road through it is quite straight and the surface is fine for normal cars although a bit uneven in places. As the canyon deepens, the types of cacti and other plants change noticeably, especially in early summer when they are in flower. There are distinct bands of large white lilies, clusters of purple echinocacti, various colors of opuntia, and finally ocotillo and large ferocacti at the lowest elevations near the river.
Rafting
Each morning, the Hualapai Indians drive down from Peach Springs with rafts and passengers, for accompanied trips down river - the boats emerge at Pearce Ferry in late afternoon. A few other people make the journey for day trips, but this remote corner of the Grand Canyon is usually serene and less visited.
You can visit Peach Spring to enjoy a fabulous vacation with family and friends.