Canaan Mountain towers above Colorado City–Hildale, its sheer red cliffs and broad summit forming a dramatic boundary around the fundamentalist stronghold below. For DeLoy Bateman, who grew up in the town, the mountain was also a rare place of escape: as a child, he and his brother David sneaked up to its summit whenever they could, seeking a space where their religion seemed unable to reach them.

Setting and Landscape

From a tranquil city park at the edge of Colorado City–Hildale, Canaan Mountain’s sandstone escarpment rises abruptly, streaked with desert varnish and climbing two thousand vertical feet. Its flat summit plateau feels separate from the world below, an island in the sky where manzanita, mariposa lilies, wild roses, yucca, Indian paintbrush, and ponderosa pines grow. The abrupt contrast between the inhabited town and the high, open plateau gives the mountain a distinct presence in the landscape.

A Childhood Refuge

DeLoy and his brother David used to slip away to the summit whenever they had the chance. For DeLoy, the mountain offered more than a view: it was the only place where, in his recollection, the religion could not control them. The account sets this childhood freedom against the strict religious order of the community below, making the mountain a refuge without suggesting that the boys left their home or community behind.

Looking Back at the Town

At the end of July, DeLoy stands at the mountain’s edge and looks down toward the town where he was born and raised. The temperature is 104 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, yet he appears untroubled by the heat, wearing long polyester pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and the religion’s trademark long underwear. By then he is an apostate from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and rejects its new prophet, Warren Jeffs, but he still lives in the middle of the community and doubts he will ever move far away. The mountain’s elevated vantage point therefore frames a continuing attachment as well as distance: DeLoy can look down on the town and its religious authority, but his life remains rooted there.