The inspiring beauty of a set of perfectly nested tipi poles extending from the top of an Indian tipi is a site to behold. This picture was taken on Fountain Creek south of Colorado Springs, CO on an early September morning. The air was crisp and cool and the smell of fall was in the air - a perfect day for spending time in a tipi.
I'm often asked why I like my tipi poles so long. It's true, on most of my tipis, I've have extra long tipi poles - and usually all the poles are the same length giving a stately and elegant "crown" to the tipi. Nice poles can make all the difference in how your tipi looks and how stable it is in windy weather.
The black streamers are one of my favorite pole accessories. The dark color shows up well against the blue of the sky and accents a set of well-maintained tipi poles beautifully. I prefer the tipis of my poles to be slender but not so skinny that the tipi poles break off when handles or transported.
Sit back, relax in the grass, look to the heavens and enjoy the gentle fluttering of the tipi pole streamers in the crisp fall breeze.
Transporting tipi poles can present an entire new problem. Over the years I've hauled thousands of tipi pole sets to some of the most remote locations one can imagine. I've used trucks, vans, trailers and even floated a few sets of tipi poles across a lake or down a river. I never had had the chance to drag a set behind a good horse but with any luck, I'll do that at least once before I give up the tipi lifestyle altogether.
This picture was taken in 2003 in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. I was delivering a few sets of tipi poles to Cora Wyoming and decided to take the scenic route. At the time, I was driving a 1984 Chevy 1-ton truck that was a real mule when it came to hauling poles. I later modified the pole rack in this picture to give it more side-to-side stability.
On this trip I was hauling 2 sets of 35 foot tipi poles and a half-dozen smaller sets. A few of the poles were still a bit green so it was quite the load.
If you want to learn more about tipi poles, check out the awesome website at www.reesetipis.com or any of the links on the left.
Three years ago I started the first prototype testing on the greenhouse tipi. This picture is of us setting up the tipi poles for the first greenhouse tipi at a friend of mine's produce farm in Rocky Ford, Colorado.
Greg Smith and his family run a small farm and corner market on historic Hwy 50 in Rocky Ford. Greg and I setup two greenhouse tipis on his farm where they started lettuce and tomatoes for their farmers market.
In this picture, my helper is holding the tipi poles on the south side of the tipi in place as I pickup the last of the poles for the north side of the tipi. As soon as I place this last tipi pole, I’ll wrap the main tire rope around all the tipi poles to hold them in a tight and stable bundle.
Rocky ford gets some pretty good winds so quality tipi poles are critical to the stability of the tipi structure. All of our poles are first-quality lodge pole pine poles selected for their uniform size and strength. We left the prototype tipis in place for two years before moving one of them back to my house and the other out to a farm closer to the mountains.
When I need to haul more than a few sets of tipi poles I get out the big guns. In 2002 I decided I need the ability to haul more poles so I built a custom trailer that can haul up to 500 tipi poles in addition to all the canvas and other accessories needed for an entire tipi village. On this trip, we were delivering tipis to Missouri, Ohio, New York, and Virginia.
I forget the exact pole count but we had 6 tipis and 3 tipi decks. My ex-wife is helping me unload tipi poles in the rain at the first stop of the trip. Now, If I could just find another crazy women to split my work with.... ;-)
It's a good thing I had that fancy trailer when we got the contracts to provide the tipi poles and tipi for the TV mini-series' Into The West and Dreamkeeper. We provided all of the tipis for both of these movies in addition to Comanche Moon and Hidalgo plus a half dozen smaller productions.
This picture was taken in Santa Fe New Mexico as we were setting up the tipi poles for one of the many tipi villages that we provided for Into The West. Yes, that's snow in the shadows of the trees - why is it that every movie set has to be in cold windy weather? Well, at least the tipis didn't mind.
In closing - let me say that quality tipi poles are a critical part of the Native American Indian tipi structure. Over the years I've handled thousands of tipi poles and I'll never loose the satisfaction that a smooth, straight, well-balanced tipi poles gives me when I'm hoisting it up into the tipi structure.
For more info on tipi poles, including how to make your own, please the pole page on main website www.reesetipis.com
May you get as much enjoyment for tipi living as I do.
Richard A. Reese - President, Reese Tipis, Inc.