Geography: Sorenson admits that Gideon’s information is too scanty to reconstruct the route out of Lehi-Nephi. However, he suggests a plausible route that bends toward Shilom on the south, then reaches a more passable valley system leading northward to Zarahemla. The relative locations of Shemlon, Shilom, and Lehi-Nephi suggest that Shilom lay between Shemlon and Lehi-Nephi. All of Limhi’s people are currently living in Lehi-Nephi. Either Shilom is uninhabited or, more probably, is inhabited by Lamanites who seem to be expanding and who would have found desirable Noah’s elaborate architectural experiments (Mosiah 11:13).
Keeping this arrangement in mind, then, the most likely “back gate” would be the one farthest from Shemlon and Shilom, thus allowing the people to put the city between them and the largest force of the Lamanites. They would not go nearer Shemlon than they had to. In Sorenson’s geography, their path would go down-valley to the south-southwest before connecting with the northwesterly valley. This route would eliminate the need to take their herds across mountains—possibly a safer, but certainly a more difficult route. Thus, this turn toward Shilom makes geographic sense, though less from the perspective of safety.