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Finally leaving Idaho after more than a month we continued on our way south, with our next stop in Provo, Utah. Originally known as Fort Utah, the town was settled by Mormon families just two short years after the arrival of the first Mormon pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley.

Here’s the backstory, briefly: in 1830 Joseph Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after translating the Book of Mormon, a text that he claimed he was given by an angel. Smith and his fast-growing church needed room to grow so they moved west from New York reaching Kirtland, Ohio in 1831. From there they moved to Missouri but their attempt to settle ended with the expulsion of all Mormons from the state. In 1839 Mormons purchased land in Nauvoo, Illinois. The town quickly swelled to over 15,000 residents, most, but not all, of them adherents to the Mormon religion.

In 1844 Joseph Smith was killed by a hysterical mob fearful of Mormons and their teachings, and in 1846 Illinois also expelled all Mormons. Seeking freedom from religious persecution, Mormons—now led by Brigham Young—began a western migration to the isolated Salt Lake Valley. The area was specifically chosen for two reasons, it was part of Mexico, and it was basically unpopulated. The remote valley was not entirely devoid of humans though since several Ute tribal groups called the area home. (The Utes were relegated to reservations shortly after the area became part of the United States in 1848.)

The 1,300 mile route from Nauvoo to the shore of the Great Salt Lake became known as the Mormon Pioneer Trail. Between 1846 and 1869 over 70,000 Mormons traveled the long trail. Those emigrants had an easier journey than travelers on the Oregon or California Trails since Young ordered settlements, ferries, and resupply outposts be established along the route. Organized with a military-like precision most Mormon emigrants made the trip without major mishap. The settlement of Great Salt Lake City was just as methodical; within four days Young designated a site for their grand temple near the center of the new town. Under his close supervision trees were felled, houses built, and crops planted. Young even dictated the width of the streets saying they should be wide enough for a wagon team to turn around in without the driver “resorting to profanity.”

Young wasn’t founding just a city, he was founding the state of Deseret and to that end he ordered the establishment of settlements throughout the Great Basin, north to Canada and south to the modern-day border with Mexico. Shortly after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed Young petitioned the U.S. government to officially recognize the state of Deseret and appoint him governor. In 1850 Congress created the much smaller Territory of Utah (named after the area’s Native American inhabitants), though a year later Young received part of his wish and was appointed governor.

Today a large number of Mormons still live in Utah with most of the state’s population residing in an urban corridor called the Wasatch Front, on the west side of the Wasatch Range. Sprawl connects a string of towns from Brigham City in the north to Santaquin in the south, with the largest one, Salt Lake City, near the center. Living space in the valley is limited by the tall mountains to the east and the large bodies of water, the Great Salt and Utah lakes, to the west.

The lakes are two of the largest remnants of immense Lake Bonneville which once covered much of Utah and parts of Nevada and Idaho. The ancient lake lost much of its water 16,800 years ago after the lake broke through at Red Rock Pass, Idaho causing massive flooding in that state. The lake continued to shrink as the climate dried out over the years until only pockets of water were left behind. To be sure, they are rather large pockets and though they share the same original source, they are quite opposite of each other. The water of the Great Salt Lake, as the name implies, has a high saline content, the result of thousands of years of evaporation. Utah Lake on the other hand is the state’s largest fresh water lake.

Lucky for us our RV park was located just outside the entrance of the Utah Lake State Park in Provo. So, we were camping alongside Utah Lake, within the limits of a town that used to be called Fort Utah, which is in the Utah Valley, which is part of Utah County, all of which are in the state of… wait for it, Utah. Makes learning local geography quite simple!

We chose Provo since the town was hosting Wordcamp, an official “geek meet” for people who use Wordpress, like Lance. Our week in Provo was a fairly quiet one as we were both rather busy with projects. The evenings were warm and mild and we took advantage of the nearby Jordan River Bike Path and a trail along the shore of Utah Lake. We saw fewer birds than we anticipated but there were plenty of mosquitoes!

Our best bird encounter occurred at our RV park one afternoon. As we sat outside at our picnic table eating lunch we noticed a small group of Black-billed Magpies (Pica hudsonia) milling around a few sites over from us. That seemed odd so we watched them intently and we soon realized that the birds were fascinated by a small strip of caulk that was dangling from under our neighbor’s rig.

One by one the birds darted under the trailer and tugged at the caulk, slowly peeling it off. At one point the caulk refused to budge and most of the flock flew away in search of other naughty enterprises. A single determined bird remained behind. He studied the situation and made adjustments in his tactics, first pulling from one side and then the other. He grabbed it firmly in his large beak, dug in his feet, and leaned back with all his weight, and still, nothing. When all else failed he even tried flying away with it, flapping mightily. Thwarted, the magpie finally flew off in disgust. Of course, we found the whole episode to be highly entertaining!

After our neighbors returned we related the story to them. They enjoyed the telling and instead of being angry with the naughty birds they were thankful that the magpies had brought their attention to a minor issue before it turned into a major repair.

Quite possibly our most memorable nature experience was with the huge mounds of blooming Big Rabbitbrush. The tall shrubs were covered with golden, yellowish blooms that dominated the landscape. Though striking, we don’t remember them for their blooms, instead we will never forget their horrendously revolting stench: they smelled like rotting flesh. I think the Latin name says it best: Chrysothamnus nauseosus!

Saturday morning I dropped Lance off at Wordcamp and drove north to Salt Lake City. Though there were plenty of cool touristy things I could have done I was going there for one reason—family genealogy (by the way, people in the know pronounce it “JENN-e-ology”). The last few years I have worked on big project for my family and I figured that since I was near the largest genealogical library in the world I should pop in there and dig around. The five-floor Family History Library, which holds records from 110 countries, is run by the LDS Church and is open to the public. Anyone, including me, can go there and look up family members on computers, in books, in over 2.4 million rolls of microfilm, or in 742,000 microfiche—all for free.

After a short introductory film I was paired up with a volunteer who provided me with a brief overview of their computer searches and how to print my items. Within a few minutes I was on my own, hunting down ancestors. By early afternoon my head was spinning and my tummy was growling so I took a short break for lunch. Realizing I would run out of time before I ran out of relatives I prioritized the folks I wanted to know more about. On my return to the library I headed for the Second Floor where the U.S. microfilm is stored. Soon I was hot on the trail and racing the clock; I had to leave by 4pm in order to make it back in time to pick up Lance.

Though I had a headache from staring at the computer screen all day it was hard to tear myself away—there was still so much I wanted to find out! Thankfully, I will be able to continue my search elsewhere as the LDS Church also operates over 4,000 Family History Centers (branches of the Library) around the world. On my drive back south I remembered something from the video—the LDS Church has a massive storage facility located deep in a nearby mountain. As soon as I had a chance I poked around on the web to find out more.

Under the direction of the LDS Church the Granite Mountain Records Vault was blasted into the side of Little Cottonwood Canyon in the 1960s. The mountain’s name is a misnomer as it is not technically granite, it is actually another igneous material called quartz monzonite. That quartz monzonite has proven to be quite durable since rock quarried there was used to build the Salt Lake Temple in the 1800s. The expansive climate-controlled vault contains millions of microfilms and microfiche—copies of over three billion pages of ancestral records, some of which date back to medieval times. When the LDS Church began collecting these documents in the late 1930s microfilm was the safest and least expensive method of preservation, though currently records are also being digitized.

From what little I understand about the situation, Mormons believe that families can be united forever through various rituals. Members are encouraged to research their ancestors so that their entire family can always be together. In order to help its members with the process, the LDS church began gathering and preserving genealogical records. And the rest, as they say, is history… All I can say is that I am glad someone is taking the time and spending the money to prevent the destruction of those precious and fascinating documents.

The following day was Sunday and it was time for us to continue on our way south. Our last stop in Utah would be near the southwest corner of the state in a tiny town I can guarantee you’ve never heard of, Leeds. We had a good reason for staying there and I can’t wait to tell you all about it!

Photos: View our photographs from Provo, Utah.

Dates: We stayed in Provo, Utah from 09/21/08 to 09/28/08.