Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Northern Utah for retirement

suprised anyone is saying ogden. ogden isn't a place I would want to live. Its an old town without much going for it. Its also got tons of crime and gang bangers. The cheapest houses that are located in a major city are in ogden. That is for a reason. I am surprised anyone is saying move to kentucky. holy crap honestly if you like mountains, rivers, streams, public lands. hunting, etc. kentucky would be like being sentenced to outer darkness. But that is pretty much the same anywhere east of the rockies. the country all looks the same pretty much. Its mostly private too, know someone, pay someone, or buy the land is the motto.

I grew up in texas. the place has essentially no public lands, and as a result I would never ever move back because of it.

BTW I just dropped my kid tonight off at utah state in logan. I have to say the logan valley is pretty gorgeous.

No rivers in Kentucky,...that's right,.....except for the Ohio River, the Mississippi River, the Kentucky River, the Big Sandy River, the Laurel River, Green River, the Cumberland River, Nolin River, the Barren River, the Red River, Rough River, The Licking River, The Tennessee River,.....I'm sure I forgot a few.

Don't get me started on the creeks and streams.

The confluence of the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers is in western Kentucky. If you understand geography, that should tell you something.

Kentucky is located where two of the biggest watersheds in the country meet. This state is shot through with rivers, streams, and creeks.

We've got a few mountains, also.

I like Kentucky Some really good sporting clays courses there. Elk Creek having some of the best terrain for sporting clays anywhere. Hunting is good, fishing is good, and cost of living is good.

As far as mountains go technically yes there are mountains there, however they are tiny in relative terms of mountains.

Like alot of folks who grew up on the west coast or west of the Mississippi you couldn’t pay me enough to move back east.

Currently live and was raised a majority of my life in Logan, Utah.

Born in Alaska. I have also lived in San Bernadino and Hesperia California, Salt Lake City, Price, UT, Fargo, N.D., Cheyenne, WY, Kansas City and Hutchinson, KS.

All have had their Pros and Cons. Life has been good in all locations.

Logan is a great place and I will retire here as it is truly "home" for me. It is beautiful and gives great access to the rest of Northern Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. It is growing steadily and will continue to grow which is sad, as it will become more like the rest of the Wasatch Front, "Southern California North" as I like to call it. Commuting on I-15 has really gotten nasty the last few years (I drive several times a month down to the Orem/Provo area for work) and it will only get worse. Aside from the growth, the only other thing about Logan that I would change is the winter inversions. The topography and the predominant winds allow cold, stagnant air to be trapped frequently during the winter making it pretty grey, dreary, and unhealthy from a respiratory standpoint. Fresh storms will clean things out but I have seen them last 2-3 weeks at a time. It is not uncommon in January, February, and early March to have it 20-30 degrees warmer 4-5000 feet higher in the mountains with clear skies! As the valley grows it will continue to get worse. About all that can really be done as I see it is 1. Ban wood-burning stoves and fireplaces 2. Get rid of all the dairies (big part of Cache Valley's heritage) and 3. Encourage use of electric vehicles for driving in the valley. Just saying that makes me feel like a Colorado liberal but I don't know what else can be done and even that will not take care of what predisposes us to the problem in the first place.

Southern Utah is great with all of the National Parks, scenery, etc. St. George is too hot for me in the summer but I could certainly be talked into spending my winters down in that area as I get older. The growth in St. George is an even bigger problem than in Logan. Both have become major metropolitan areas in the last decade or so. St. George in the 1960's-1970's was really a hidden "gem" but has now been discovered by Californians and those silver-haired people!

Cedar City is a nice town, only an hour north of St. George, but located at 5000+ feet elevation. Winter is a bit different than St. George and the wind can blow at times!!! Southern Utah State University is a great school. Different feel than Cache Valley though... less green in the summer and less water but you are still real close to all the good stuff down south and you can escape easily to St. George, Mesquite, and Las Vegas for a winter reprieve easier than Logan. In Logan, you drive to Salt Lake and fly to Cabo or Hawaii!

Price was a nice place if you don't mind being just a little more isolated from the bigger cities (70 minutes to Provo on Hwy 6). I lived there for 9 years and really enjoyed it. The LDS population is not quite as high there if that is a big deal for you.Coal Mining was huge in the area back in the day and the area attracted many Greek, Italian, and other Eastern European immigrants as well as the usual Scandinavian groups so common in Utah. They have some great ethnic festivals in the summer that I really miss now that I live up north. Access to all of that which Southern Utah offers is easily accessible from the north which is nice but you can fly out of Salt Lake City in 2 hours as well. Flaming Gorge is 2 1/2 hours to the NE and the Western Slope of Colorado is 2 1/2 hours to the SW. It is a great location!!!
I have never spent more time outdoors in more interesting, diverse locations than I did while living in Price, Utah. Housing can be much cheaper than in St. George or in Logan as well. Tikkanut's pictures do not lie. If I were not from Logan originally, I would still be in Price. It's not perfect, but it is pretty darn good if you love the outdoors with easy accessibilty.

Pocatello, Idaho would be good. It is close to Yellowstone and the Snake River. It is probably a little warmer than Logan, but not much. There you trade the inversions of Logan for Snake River fog in the winter and some wind as well. I'd give it a try though! Sorry to hear about all the issues in Twin Falls now. It historically has been a nice area, too. Agriculture seems to bring the immigrant issues though these days.

Evanston, Wyoming is not a bad place despite what others have said. Most just drive through on I-80 and never stop. My father and his two brothers chose to retire there. The brothers are still there and very happy. You get the simplicity that life in Wyoming brings as well as the tax advantages. Housing and utilities are inexpensive. Salt Lake City and Ogden are barely an hour away for Sam's Club, Costco, the airport, sports, high-end dining, and major medical care. Hunting and fishing for residents of Wyoming is without equal in the West (except for maybe Alaska) and much more accessible. My father is comfortable in Logan now (83 and significant health issues) but given the choice, he would rather be back in Evanston. Interestingly, I never felt like the wind blew that much there like much of the rest of Wyoming. There are no inversions there either and 10 degrees on a still, sunny morning felt much warmer there than in Logan FWIW!!! Rock Springs, Rawlins, Larimie, etc are totally different animals.

Hope my observations help. I like them all! My grandparents left Logan to move to Vacaville late in their years in the early 1990's to escape Logan's winters and be close to Travis AFB for more extensive health care if needed. I thought they were crazy but understood their thought process. I've often wondered if they would do the same now!!!

Welcome to the 'Fire! And thanks to everyone for the advice. Please keep these personal observations coming. Your insights help to color in the map of the area.

My final observations for this thread:

No place is perfect. There will always be compromises and balances, like accepting larger city conveniences despite congestion and crime. The religion thing in this thread has been completely overblown. Can you find instances of ostracizing? Sure. But you'd have to look for them to find them. I've lived in the Deep South Bible Belt as well as Utah, and for my money, the South is MUCH worse as far as religious oversaturation.

If you move here from almost anywhere, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the cost of living, home prices, taxes, and (perhaps most important) the climate. And that does not even begin to address the incomparable scenery. You might be upset by our wacky liquor laws, the effect of Johnny Condoseed's efforts, or our winter air quality. But it's all worth it. If it isn't, you'd be perfectly free to move away.

Very well put. Beautiful valley, just running out of empty spots.

that is the most accurate summation of a variety of areas I can think of.

Let's see if I can get the picture to post. For some of us there's a problem with "East of the Mississippi". It's called too many people.



Geno

PS, yes there are "mountains" of a sort back there too. Some of them are even over 6000' feet above sea level at their peak.

Hurry, take that down! They'll start thinking the west is all open space.... We just ain't got no yard lights!

Yes. Make sure you have some kind of guarantee to water and it's in the sales contract. If it's not you will be paying hugely for it, IF you can get it at all. My brother got his contract years ago and he is doing OK but now every drop is spoken for. Water rights are the only thing that keeps Utah from being overrun by Californians. They show up and they just assume water is a given. It's not.

kwg

people saying anywhere near the mississippi and everywhere east. All I gotta say is you must have never been out here. The east is all pretty much the same and boring. as for water I think we actually have plenty for a while in utah. I still see farmers watering plowed fields in the rain. When that stops happening then I will say we have a shortage of water.

Go where you will and they'll still find you. I tell them what the Bible REALLY says about Jesus and they don't come back. It doesn't jive with what they teach.

what does the bible really say about jesus? you know we believe in the bible too.

[quote=79S]Like alot of folks who grew up on the west coast or west of the Mississippi you couldn’t pay me enough to move back east. [/quote

] the idea of moving back east is crazy...…..I know bristoe loves Kentucky.....but the eastern culture is to different.....

the saying is...go west young man......not fuuccking east...…...bob

Might be because if they don't use that water they'll lose the rights to it when it's not a bumper year?

Oh, and there's some interesting places back east. They just don't generally go on and on like ours out west here do.

Geno

Well, there's that................and the fact that the liberals out here require our street lamps, parking lot lights, etc to be shielded from above and low intensity. Thank the powers that be for liberals in this case...............................


The ALIENS have a much greater chance of hitting the population centers back east when they attack .

Geno

PS, careful readers will notice I didn't say "if" they attack

Daniel Boone National Forest is cool, and Red River Gorge is absolutely awesome. Lots of people are ignorant of what is available "back east"

BGG,

I'm aware. I lived near and hunted and fished in the Allegheny NF in NW PA. (one of the few darker spots in the Eastern part of that pic). Lots of other cool places back east also.

I'm also aware of all those lights and what they're associated with.............................people.

Pretty dark looking in NW MT........................you enjoy that I guess?