General characteristics
editThe 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 juniper trees, moving into pinyon pine 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 (the Strip's largest community) 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 heading south from Jacob Lake.
The Strip has a total surface area of 7,878.11 square miles (20,404.2 km²). Of this, 7,856.45 square miles (20,348.12 km²) is land, and only 56.08 km² (21.653 sq mi, or 0.275%) is water. Its land area is larger than that of the state of Massachusetts, and comprises 6.9 percent of Arizona's land area. About 64.4 percent of its area is in Mohave County and 35.6 percent in Coconino County. Its total population was 8,095 inhabitants at the 2000 census, with 6,221 residing in Mohave County and 1,874 in Coconino County. [1]