David and I drove down to St. George Utah so we could visit Eye of Heaven Arch to the southeast. On our way to Eye of Heaven Arch, we drove through Hilsdale Utah, a funky little town situated on the Utah and Arizona border.
This is polygamy country. The houses are big and could easily house several families. Most houses have an unfinished corner, probably so that the owner doesn’t have to pay property taxes on the addition. Women and girls in the town seem to prefer wearing long dresses and bonnets while boys and men wear suspenders and hats. And one other thing that is odd for Utah – there are no obvious churches anywhere. (Utah towns usually have a Mormon church every couple of blocks or so.)
The south end of Hilsdale is actually the north end of the town of Colorado City, Arizona. This probably makes it easy to skip back and forth across the state border to avoid the law when you have more than one wife. A little strange but “to each his own” I suppose.
(As a Mormon member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living most of my life in Utah, I don’t believe I have ever met a polyamist. As someone who has been married to ONE wonderful wife for many years, I also find the idea rather frightening!)
The Eye of Heaven Arch is easy to find after a short hike up Water Canyon northeast of Hilsdale. It was a large class “B” arch located at the top of a tall cliff.
The canyon below had a nice creek of water so the area was lush and green. Very nice.
