In 1847, when Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, Church president Brigham Young selected a plot of the desert ground and proclaimed, “Here we will build a temple to our God.” When the city was surveyed, the block enclosing that location was designated for the temple, and became known as Temple Square. Temple Square is surrounded by a high, granite wall that was built shortly after the block was designated for the building of the temple.

The square also became the headquarters of the LDS Church. Other buildings were built on the plot, including a tabernacle (prior to the one occupying Temple Square today) and Endowment House, both of which were later torn down. The Salt Lake Tabernacle, home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, was built in 1867 to accommodate the General Conferences of the Church, with a seating capacity of 8,000. Another church building called the Assembly Hall was later built with a seating capacity of 2,000.

As the Church has grown, its headquarters has expanded into the surrounding area. In 1917, an administration building was built on the block east of the temple, to be followed in 1972 by the twenty-eight story LDS Church Office Building, which was, for many years, the tallest building in the state of Utah. The Hotel Utah, another building on this block, was remodeled in 1995 as additional office space and a large film theater and renamed the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. In 2000, the Church purchased the section of Main Street between this block and Temple Square and connected the two blocks with a plaza called the Main Street Plaza. In 2000, the Church completed a new, 21,000 seat Conference Center on the block north of Temple Square.

The Family History Library and the Church History Museum are located on the block west of Temple Square.

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The “Narrows” are upstream from the main Zion Canyon, where the walls squeeze to slot canyon dimensions: 1,500 feet tall and as narrow as 30 feet wide in places. In these spots, the water flows from wall to wall so hiking it involves a lot of wading through the Virgin River.

The Narrows span a distance of 16 miles but to hike the whole thing you need a permit, and more time than we had. Without a permit, you can hike up from the end of the Gateway to the Narrows Trail (Riverside Walk) to Big Springs, about 3.6 miles one way. We rented drypants, neoprene socks, shoes, and walking sticks from the Zion Adventure Company who gave us a quick lecture on the Narrows and said that if we hiked all the way to Big Springs we would most likely run into some spots where we had to swim. Not looking to get that x-treme this time, we set our sights on getting to “Wall Street”, the section where the canyon is most narrow, which is only a couple miles in and requires no swimming.

So, the Narrows have much more to offer than what you will see here, but even a quick trip offers amazing and unique scenery.

Lake Powell is a reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona (most of it, along with Rainbow Bridge, is in Utah). It is the second largest man-made reservoir in the United States behind Lake Mead, storing 24,322,000 acre feet (30 km³) of water when full. Lake Powell was created by the flooding of Glen Canyon by the controversial Glen Canyon Dam, which also led to the creation of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, a popular summer destination.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area draws more than two million visitors annually. Recreational activities include boating, fishing, waterskiing, jet-skiing, and hiking. Prepared campgrounds can be found at each marina, but many visitors choose to rent a houseboat or bring their own camping equipment, find a secluded spot somewhere in the canyons, and make their own camp (there are no restrictions on where visitors can stay). Anyone who camps further than a quarter of a mile from a marina, however, must bring a portable toilet. The burying of human waste in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is prohibited. Pet waste must also be packed out.

LEHI — This year Thanksgiving Point gave locals the opportunity to decide the theme for the two corn mazes, the second being a haunted maze based on local author Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven fantasy book series.

Cub Scout Committee member Lisa Watterson presented her idea of the 100th birthday of Scouting theme and was thrilled when she found out it was accepted.

“It seemed like a perfect fit,” said Watterson while visiting the maze with her troop. “We’ll definitely bring the Boy Scouts down and try to get lost in the maze.”

The mazes will be open to the public on Friday, Oct. 1.