Explore the Desert Southwest Explore the Pacific Northwest Explore the West Indies Explore the Iberian Peninsula Explore the Great Plains of North America Explore Desert Mexico Explore the Sierra Range in California and Nevada Explore the Central American Isthmus Explore the Great Basin Explore the Northern Seas Explore the Atlantic Seaboard
Notes from the Road - Travels in City and Country About Notes from the Road
Region
Travels in City and Country
Zion Canyon
Zion Narrows Virgin Narrows
Virgin River
 

Zion Canyon
Dispatch from Hurricane, Utah
Text, photographs and web design by Erik Gauger

 
 

A lot of people I know have read the book, Under the Banner of Heaven, by Jon Krakauer. The book was about the strange views and violence that fundamentalism inflicts on a people. The book was written in the context of the Mormon fundamentalists of Southwestern Utah, but a lot of people came away from the book with the affirmation that mormons are crazy, nuts and deranged.

That accusation, of course, is false. Mormons are great people, most of them live a beautiful, healthy life, and even though their Book of Mormon and their Joseph Smith are a little wacky, the fact is, so are the texts and prophets of any other religion, especially from the viewpoint of somebody else.

This is a story about my own experiences with the Mormons of Southwestern Utah, fundamentalism, and the Christian right. It is also the story of the Gay Mormon, and the fabled National Park in Utah, Zion Canyon.

The story of Zion Canyon actually begins in Nevada. It's a small town on the border of Utah called Mesquite. I stay in this town often en route to Utah, because the hotel rooms are cheap.

 
 

Next

1234567

 



 

 

 

     
Donate

text, photographs, illustrations and web design ©2008 Erik Gauger
desert southwest
| West Indies | Pacific Northwest | Iberian Peninsula | Great Plains | Desert Mexico |Sierra Range | Isthmus | Great Basin | Northern Seas | Atlantic Seaboard | About | Rise Up Sweet Island
Donate