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Lake Powell Boat Rentals

The easiest way to get on the water: rent, launch, paddle and drop off a kayak at Wahweap. 928-645-1111; www.lakepowell.com; Wahweap Marina, UT; full-day kayak rental $28; 7am-7pm

Lake Powell Scenic Cruises

Enjoy a full-day cruise on Lake Powell, the highlight of which is Rainbow Bridge. 800-528-6154; www.lakepowell.com; Lake Powell Resort, 100 Lakeshore Dr, Page, AZ; adult/child $148/92; 7am-7pm;

EAT

Fiesta Mexicana

As festive as the name suggests, with down-home Mexican fare. 928-645-4082; 125 South Lake Powell Blvd, Page, AZ; mains $7-12; 11am-10pm

Rainbow Room

Lake views take the cake at Lake Powell Resort’s restaurant. 928-645-1162; www.lakepowell.com; Lake Powell Resort, 100 Lakeshore Dr, Page, AZ; mains $12-28; 6am-10pm

SLEEP

Debbie’s Hide A Way

Suites at Debbie’s come complete with full kitchens, bathrooms and spacious living areas. 928-645-1224; www.debbieshideaway.com; 117 8th Ave, Page, AZ; r $39-159;

Lees Ferry Lodge

The 10 rooms at this small motel are uniquely and comfortably furnished, and the porches are perfect for watching sunsets. 928-355-2231; vclodge@yahoo.com; Hwy 89A, Marble Canyon, AZ; r $70-112;

USEFUL WEBSITES

www.nps.gov/glca

www.nps.gov/rabr

LINK YOUR TRIP www.lonelyplanet.com/trip-planner

TRIP

19 Tiny Towns of Rim Country

32 Hiking the North Rim

35 Written in Stone: Utah’s National Parks

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Return to beginning of chapter

Polygamy Country

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WHY GO Upswept hairdos and pastel prairie dresses, averted eyes and gaggles of children. No, you haven’t stepped into a Laura Ingalls Wilder time warp, this is modern-day southeastern Utah, where the Mormon religion holds strong, and a polygamous splinter group has taken the faith to some pretty serious extremes.

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TIME

2 days

DISTANCE

90 miles

BEST TIME TO GO

Sep – Oct

START

St George, UT

END

Hildale, UT

ALSO GOOD FOR

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Polygamy has been causing controversy ever since Mormon prophet Joseph Smith revealed the principle in 1843. Within a few years the church leader had been murdered and the Saints driven from Illinois to the Utah Territory. But for all the effect polygamy had in populating western states (second church president Brigham Young was purported to have had as many as 35 wives, 65 children and countless great-great-great grandchildren – this author included), the practice lasted a surprisingly short time. The official Mormon church, known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) today, espoused plural marriage for only 50 years. In fact, the LDS excommunicates multiple marriagers.

That doesn’t mean the practice faded away. Start talking to residents in the staunchly Mormon St George, and you may be regaled with stories of polygamous friends or suspiciously large broods of similar-age kids tumbling out of minivans. St George is, after all, the closest urban center to Hildale-Colorado City, the town where an estimated 7000 polygamy-practicing members of a cult-like splinter sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), live.

Start your day in St George as the Mormon pioneers would have. OK, so settlers wouldn’t have sipped espresso, but they would have recognized the baked cinnamon-apple smell wafting from the Bear Paw Café. Fruit and nuts were some of the first local crops planted. Look for the mulberry trees (planted to feed silk worms) that shade the old town streets as you stroll past mercantile buildings on N Main and Tabernacle Sts. The dry goods are gone, but you can still lap up ice cream under pressed-tin ceilings at Thomas Judd’s Store (c 1911), part of the Green Gate Village Inn historical B&B community.

To get a feel for high-end pioneer polygamist life, mosey over to the Brigham Young Winter Home (1873), where in October apples drip from some of the original orchard trees. Young, and presumably several of his wives, were among the first “snowbirds” to flock to St George