Back to Hiking with Terry: The Return to Southern Utah

And finally it was time to return to Utah. Our last time in the southwest area of the state where we lived had been in August 2017, only a few months after we became full time RV’ers. In the intervening years I’d been missing the mountains and deserts and slickrock of Utah terribly and was really looking forward to the return.

Same as the last visit we were graciously invited to park in our friend Terry’s driveway. Abby was ecstatic as usual as soon as she recognized the street we were on and very happily greeted Terry before commencing to roll around on his lawn. After a half hour she couldn’t quite understand why we were all standing around talking though and began trying to herd us towards a vehicle so we could all go hike, but she eventually settled in while we caught up.

The next morning Abbs was happy to see us finally collecting our packs and filling water bottles – and we were pretty happy too. For our first hike we choose to return to a section of national forest on the east side of the Pine Valley Mountains specifically because we could stay below 6,000 feet and avoid the late spring snows that were still hitting the mountains. I’ve blogged about this jaunt before – the hike itself follows a jeep road up to an old ranger’s cabin and a large sequoia – but the stormy clouds, lush green meadow grasses, and the blooming lupines made for some really beautiful scenery that particular day. As usual we ducked off the path multiple times to peer over the canyon edges at or scramble down to the tumultuous waters of Ash Creek and spent time strategizing how we will, someday, get down into the narrow canyon at certain points and across the ponderosa-strewn mesa beyond. It felt very natural to fall back into hiking together as a foursome again, planning future adventures, discussing topography, and potential routes. It also felt really good to just be back in Utah.