Honeymoon Trail

Couples once crossed a desert to get married, and called the road home their honeymoon. From 1877, when the St. George Temple opened, until 1927, Latter-day Saints from the Mormon settlements of Arizona and New Mexico made the long wagon journey here to be sealed in marriage — the nearest temple was hundreds of miles off. They crossed the Colorado at Lee's Ferry, watered at springs like Navajo Wells west of here, and pushed through Kanab and Pipe Spring and down the Hurricane Cliffs. The wedding lay at the end of the road; the honeymoon was the ride back.

What the plaque says

From 1877 to 1927, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled this route to be united in eternal marriage in the St. George Utah Temple. Thus, the route was named the “Honeymoon Trail.” Families came from Arizona and parts of New Mexico, crossing at Lee's Ferry. From here, the trail enters Kanab, Utah, proceed to Pipe Spring, the Rock Canyon Dugway, down Hurricane Cliffs, through Fort Pearce, and then on the St. George. Located 1/4-mile west of this marker is Navajo Wells, a natural spring which supplied water to travelers, their horses and oxen.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kanab — 15 mi
  Little Hollywood — where hundreds of Western movies were filmed
• Best Friends Animal Sanctuary — 23 mi
  The largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the United States
• Mount Carmel Junction — 27 mi
  The crossroads where the road to Zion meets the highway to Bryce

More markers nearby

• Johnson Canyon Cemetery — 7.3 mi
• Kane County Veterans Memorial — 15 mi
• Powell Survey — 15 mi
• Jacob Hamblin — 15 mi