My Search For A Cabin In The Woods

I'm looking to buy a cabin, or recreational property where I can build a cabin. Or, maybe I’ll buy 2-3 cabins, in different areas where there are different kinds of recreational opportunities.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a place in the High Uinta Mountains, close to great summer fishing and winter snowmobiling? Where summer temperatures are cool.

But I'd also enjoy a place near the east entrance to Zion National Park. Zion is my favorite place on earth - I love hiking the park's slots. The east entrance is fairly close to Bryce Canyon and Lake Powell, and the winter weather is relatively mild. Not a bad combination.

And, who can forget Moab? I won't mind having a place just outside of town - away from the bustle but close to the myriad of recreation opportunities in that area.

It's hard for me to confine my interests to just one location and so I may just pick up more than one cabin, as circumstances allow during the next few years. I'm not rich and so I'm looking for good deals. I figure recreational property is a great investment that I can enjoy while it appreciates. To make my scheme work I'll need property that will appreciate, either naturally or because I make improvements, and property than can be readily sold if I decide I need cash.

Land values continue to rise in Utah, even while prices have faltered in much of the rest of the country. There is very little risk associated with buying property here.

I plan to take my time and carefully study various opportunities before I put any money down. I've started to compile a list of properties I find interesting. I figure others may share my interest and so I'm posting my list on my website.

I stumbled across a nearly-perfect location the other day that tempted me to settle for one property. Lots running 4-7 acres are begins sold in 6-Mile Canyon, just off Skyline Drive in Central Utah. A trout stream runs through the property. Skyline Drive is a high-mountain area much like the Uintas, heavily forested with countless small lakes and streams. It's a great place to hike, fish, ride ATVs and horses during the summer, and to snowmobile during winter.

Palisades Reservoir is located in the mouth of the canyon, just above the tiny community of Sterling. The reservoir is nice for family fishing and canoeing, and it offers a great little golf course.

6-Mile is just 80 miles south of my home in Springville, so it would make an easy weekend getaway for anyone living along Utah's Wasatch Front. And, because it is south, it would put me closer to Zion and Powell and Moab and Boulder Mountain and most of the places where I like to play.

The lot prices are a little steep for me, starting at $150,000. Add the cost of building a cabin and you're talking real money. But it is tempting. If I didn't love those other spots so much, I’d probably grab one of the lots before they are gone.

For more info, see this website and click on property for sale.