Thinking About Southern Utah

[Schattentarn]

I have received my insurance money on the house that burned down. Naturally, we want to leave California, if possible. No more deep forests where we have to depend on the USFS Fire for our lives. Once, we lived in a pinyon pine forest and for some reason we left. I would like to return to that environment. Southern Utah has that environment and is politically acceptable. They have good gun laws. The people (many Mormons) are already accustomed to prepping ideas via their religion. Where we want to go is about 5200 ft. in elevation, pinyon forest surrounding it, water and electricity already to the property, about .5 acre, 25 minutes from St. George, manufactured houses OK so no building hang ups. I am free to build a solar back up and of course a generator. No climatic extremes. Not enough land for a real farm but certainly enough for a garden. In a real pinch, if we can make it to October, there are millions of pounds of nutritious pine nuts simply lying around.

Those are the pros in my mind. All you very experienced preppers, tell me what the cons are, please. What have I missed? Are there conditions is Southern Utah I have not considered?






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[Amish Heart]

It's really hot there. It's desert. You really have to like desert.

 

[user 6493]

I have been there,not much there,and it is going to be hot,,,if I went I would buy more than 1/2 an acre

 

[Amish Heart]

I'm fairly negative about the desert since I lived in New Mexico for 20 something years. I'm not a desert rat. Was there for husband's job. We did vacation in Utah once though, had a family reunion on husband's side there. We found we didn't have to acclimate much, did alot of hiking. Our other relatives from California and Florida had a harder time.

 

[Proud Prepper]

You can't get a little more land? 1 or 2 acres?

 

[Mountain trapper]

Utah is a great place to move to. Just don't go any further north.

 

[tmttactical]

I like the desert and the heat but it is not for everybody. Biggest issue is water. It may not rain enough to provide irrigation and family needs. Questions will be: What can you grow? What can you hunt? What can you forage for? Where will you get your water? How much water will you have to store? These are the life sustaining questions that will need to be answered before you purchase any property.

 

[user 5884]

Is it well water, or from a main? If from a well, I'd get it tested. Some parts of Utah can have groundwater issues with selenium, arsenic, and other nasty stuff.

 

[Dani]

Never been to southern Utah so I really can not comment other than I would want a bigger parcel of land for a garden. But then again I tend to grow for everything I can for at least to store a years worth. Not everyone is there yet. Not sure what others have said is "hot", I deal with over 100 in temps during the summer months for days on end. I would just make sure that you have a steady water supply if it is hot to water a garden on a regular basis.

 

[Amish Heart]

Meaning hot, dry, not much rain. But not much humidity, either. No shade.
But cool rock formations.

 

[Roninsensei]

Utah is starting to go super restrictive and I don’t like where it’s headed. If a person has done their time and has successfully reintegrated back into society it’s still illegal for them to carry a pocket knife for any reason. Not really what the founding fathers intended. The idea that a person is a criminal for ever is b.s. If that were the case then we wouldn’t ever hear about Wyatt Earp since he was wanted in 2 states for horse theft and pimping. But a man can change himself. A law that punishes someone because of what he did long ago is just plain wrong. They are moving that way day by day. It’s just another form of restriction. Why can’t a man change his stars?

 

[Mountain trapper]

If you have the water you can grow a decent sized garden on a half acre. Maybe a few chickens and rabbits too. The problem that I see is half an acre of desert is bearly a postage stamp size piece of land. No privacy from neighbors either. Of course coming from California this may not be a problem.
In my opinion, a thousand acres of desert would be a minimum size parcel to be worthwhile considering.
Utah is like most western states and has a lot of patented mining claims. A patented mining claim means you have a deed to the land. Most are in relatively remote areas and are usually 20 or more acres in size and are usually surrounded by forest service or BLM lands. You might be able to find one for sale at a reasonable price.

 

[Schattentarn]

There are trees on this property, pinyon pines and some junipers. The problem is not shade trees, it will be clearing a defense space for fire. As far as I know all water in the Western USA from now on is going to be well water. We have well water now and we live next to a lake. The lake is reserved for a city downstream but I wouldn't drink the lake water no matter how purified they try to make it. Our well water has arsenic now so we buy drinking water. If I were going to stay here I would buy a reverse osmosis unit which would fix the problem.

The average July high is 90 degrees, low 59. This is what is it for pinyon forests in California. It has 16 inches of rain a year, the last pinyon forest I lived in had 14. This has 38 inches of snow and a bit colder than a comparable place in California. I don't think this climate is a problem.

Like Arcticdude says, there are other parcels out there which are larger but they are further up in the mountains and so I would encounter fire problems. I would also have to drill a well and start with solar. I am too old to do the wilderness thing now.

 

[Amish Heart]

How is the dirt?

 

[Brent S]

I have a daughter living near Salt Lake City and she has said the housing market is so hot right now people are getting 30 grand above asking prices. I can’t speak for the rest of the state but her area is expensive and growing like crazy.

 

[Dani]

I will say that on a half acre, you can still do a lot if conditions are right. You can have your home, add in a chicken coop, rabbits if you want the added protien and do a nice garden.

 

[Schattentarn]

I have a daughter living near Salt Lake City and she has said the housing market is so hot right now people are getting 30 grand above asking prices. I can’t speak for the rest of the state but her area is expensive and growing like crazy.

This is happening all over the West. People on the immediate coast are bailing out and moving East. The Leftists want Colorado or maybe New Mexico. Idaho is the number one hope for conservatives but those prices are astronomical except for the northern two counties on the Canadian border. Boise and surrounding area has L.A./Seattle prices now. They are flat out selling their politics and will tell you so. The best parts of Nevada are now very expensive. This leaves Wyoming, Montana (if you can hack the cold), Utah, and AZ to fit your lifestyle into. That squeeze is harder than it appears at first.

 

[Brent S]

This is happening all over the West. People on the immediate coast are bailing out and moving East. The Leftists want Colorado or maybe New Mexico. Idaho is the number one hope for conservatives but those prices are astronomical except for the northern two counties on the Canadian border. Boise and surrounding area has L.A./Seattle prices now. They are flat out selling their politics and will tell you so. The best parts of Nevada are now very expensive. This leaves Wyoming, Montana (if you can hack the cold), Utah, and AZ to fit your lifestyle into. That squeeze is harder than it appears at first.

I love the idea of going further out than I am but don’t have the energy to start from scratch again, and the cold is a big no for me. I’ve been spoiled by a lifetime of good comfortable temperatures.