Arizona, New Mexico & the Grand Canyon Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Aaron Anderson [107]
St George Temple
Brigham Young dedicated the town’s temple in 1871. Find out more at the public visitors center. 435-673-5181; www.lds.org; 440 S 300 East, St George; visitors center 9am-9pm
Thomas Judd’s Store
Admire the original 1911 store building while satiating your sweet tooth with the candy and ice cream sold here. 435-628-6999; 76 W Tabernacle St, St George; 10am-5pm;
Wal-Mart
Extremist FLDS church members often shop at this supercenter between St George and Hildale-Colorado City. 435-628-2802; 625 W Telegraph St, Washington; 24 hr
EAT
Bear Paw Café
Ooohhh those fluffy Belgian waffles and juicy blueberry pancakes…and there’s a coffee barista on-site. 435-634-0126; 75 N Main St, St George; mains $5-9; 7am-2pm
Merry Wives Café
Come to see the polygamist family portraits, stay for the good daily specials like the fried shrimp. 435-874-9425; Hwy 59, Hildale; dishes $5-10; 11am-7:30pm Mon-Sat
Painted Pony
Layers of flavor (think green leeks enlivening sweet potato hash), make this St George’s top restaurant. 435-634-1700; 2 W St George Blvd, St George; mains $20-25; 11am-10pm Mon-Sat
SLEEP
Green Gate Village
Grassy lawns separate the nine historic buildings, filled with antiques, that comprise this B&B community. 435-628-6999, 800-350-6999; www.greengatevillageinn.com; 76 W Tabernacle St, St George; r incl breakfast $99-139
Seven Wives Inn
Character oozes from each of 13 individually decorated rooms (one has a hot tub inside a Model T Ford). 435-628-3737, 800-600-3737; www.sevenwivesinn.com; 217 N 100 West, St George; r incl breakfast $80-180
SUGGESTED READS
For more on life inside the FLDS, pick up Carolyn Jessop’s book Escape or the DVD documentary Under the Banner of Heaven.
USEFUL WEBSITES
www.lds.org
www.sgcity.org
LINK YOUR TRIP www.lonelyplanet.com/trip-planner
TRIP
32 Hiking the North Rim
33 Lazing on Lake Powell
35 Written in Stone: Utah’s National Parks
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Return to beginning of chapter
Written in Stone: Utah’s National Parks
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WHY GO Stare at the swirling pattern long enough and you’ll swear you can see the red rock move. Hiking through Utah’s five national parks, you get to test your limits and bear witness to the earth’s power at its most elemental. Here the story of wind and water is written in stone.
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TIME
8 days
DISTANCE
400 miles
BEST TIME TO GO
May – June, Sep – Oct
START
Zion National Park
END
Canyonlands National Park - Needles District
ALSO GOOD FOR
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Though the whole alphabet soup of Southern Utah’s national parks – Zion to Arches, west to east – lies within the Colorado plateau, each region has its own distinctive features. Start at the lowest elevation (just 3800ft on the canyon floor) in Zion National Park and you can feel the desert heat. Temperatures in July consistently top 100°F, and late October still has warm, sunny fall days. The park’s red canyon cliffs are so strikingly dramatic that it’s hard to imagine that the little Virgin River carved them.
The carved red rock views from the winding and main canyon drive (on a shuttle system in summer) are great. But to get a real feel for the place, hike The Narrows, the slender canyons along the river’s north fork. In an easy-does-it day, you can trek a few miles north from Riverside Walk to experience the sheer fluted walls closing in and then slosh back. Adrenaline junkies will shuttle out early to the Narrows trailhead near Chamberlain’s Ranch so they can complete the full 16-mile, 13-hour journey in a day. Plan to get wet: at least 50% of either hike is in the river.
Prefer dry land? More than one hiker has challenged their fear of heights on Angel’s Landing. Here the 5-mile one-way trail is so steep (1450ft ascent) and narrow (5ft at some points) that there’s a wide spot known as “chicken-out point.” To conquer one cleft formed by wind and water, 22 stonework switchbacks