And there is little doubt that many of those human ashes end up being scattered in places dear to the dearly departed. But pay somebody to disperse those ashes? Not likely for many Utahns.

"It's not at all uncommon for us to cremate a person, and the person wants to have his ashes scattered," said Michael O'Donnell, president of Neil O'Donnell & Sons Mortuary in Salt Lake City. "Ninety-nine percent of the time, [the families] do it themselves."

Utahns were rather slow to embrace cremation as an acceptable end-of-life alternative.

Just a decade ago, cremations followed less than 10 percent of all deaths, said Todd Boyer, owner of Southern Utah Mortuary in Cedar City and president of the Utah Funeral Directors Association. He estimates that percentage has doubled.

Why?

Sure, it is cheaper, and financial reasons are always an important factor. But Utah funeral directors do not think money is the main driving force.

"We live in a mobile society, and people like to take their loved ones with them," said Boyer.

"People are just getting away from traditions in a lot of ways," opined O'Donnell, also citing an environmental ethos. "People don't want to take up space in the ground."

John Holbrook, who runs Holbrook Mortuary in east Salt Lake County, believes cremation is increasingly attractive to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because of two concurrent but only remotely related factors: the church's expansion and the increased ability of funeral directors to retain important rites of passage before cremation.

"You have a dominant religion here, and the dominant religion emphasizes the importance of funerals and celebrations of a human life lived," he said. "The church also is rapidly growing in a lot of countries where it's 100 percent cremations, and they have to adapt to those countries.

"We've done a lot more funeral services followed by cremations. We have a rental casket, and the interior collapses into a cremation unit. Ten years ago, we didn't offer that. More families are opting for that."

Greater acceptance of cremation is not just confined to Mormons, said O'Donnell, whose funeral home often is a favorite of Utah's Catholic community.

"The Catholic Church has never preferred cremation, but it does accept it," he said, especially when accompanied by a spiritual ceremony of remembrance. "I don't like to see someone picked up, cremated and handed over with a 'Here you go.' Everyone deserves some sort of service or memorialization."

Holbrook and O'Donnell are both familiar with companies that offer to scatter human ashes in the ocean or some faraway place.

Both also have volunteered to take cremated remains of people to mountainous properties they own so that the ashes can be scattered in a pretty place.

"My family has property in Montana," O'Donnell said. "I have pictures of the area. I just let [families] know that I get up there three to four times a year, and they are fine with that."

Holbrook said funeral directors also have come up with other desirable ways for survivors to stay in touch with their departed loved ones.

"I have little keepsake urns, bracelets and necklaces, and jars about the size of a little aspirin bottle," he said. "If four or five kids want ashes, they can split them up."

Given Utah's scenic wonders, families often end up scattering ashes around campsites and trails in national parks or other favored getaways.

Like most national parks, Canyonlands has a policy that gives the public great leeway to scatter ashes - only archaeological sites and standing pools of water must be avoided - but requires a special-use permit to do so.

Still, Canyonlands spokesman Paul Henderson said he does not know of any permits being issued in recent years and figures people just go out and do it on their own.

"I know that in other parks, scattering ashes is very common," he said.

"I once worked at Mount Rainier. There are 2 to 3 million people in the Seattle area who can see that mountain on every clear day. It was a fairly common thing there," Henderson said.

Although mortuary owner Boyer said that most bereaved families do not say where they are going to scatter ashes - and he does not ask - he does know of some who have taken their loved ones to familiar places on golf courses.

"Maybe they were always in the sand trap on the fourth hole . . ."

mikeg@sltrib.com

Find a service online

* International Scattering Society: www.internationalscattering- society.com

* Atlantis Society: www.atlantissociety.com

* Final Flights: www.finalflights.com

* Eternal Ascent Society: www.eternalascent.com

* National Funeral Directors Association: www.nfda.org

* Cremation Association of North America: www.cremationassociation.org