Thinking of moving to Utah, looking for a fairly wooded area (Salt Lake City: neighborhoods, to live)

[Fahrenheit85]

So thinking of moving to Utah from PA, looking for something that's fairly rural but still offers high speed internet of some sort. My wife and I are both nurses and we are willing to travel up to 45min~ish for work. Trying to find something with 4 seasons and (the hard part) fairly wooded. Being from PA we are used to dense forests and I know Utah is fairly arid but forest maps show some forests in the state. Where should we be looking? We are really non-religious and not really bothered by religious people just as long as i'm not getting rocks tossed at me for not going to church.

[Coffeequeen]

You want to live rurally in the forest but be at work in 45 mins?

[soccerscotty21]

There is nowhere in Utah that will be a forest like you are used to in the east. That being said, there are a couple places you can live with the wild at your backdoor and still live close enough to commute to work. I'd start looking in the Park City, Heber Valley, Kamas, Oakley area. That's probably your best bet. There are medical centers in Heber and Park City. You could work there and live in all sorts of places within 45 minutes of there that are more wooded. High speed internet might be more of a challenge in some places, but you'll probably be able to find it. Good luck.

[Liberty_420]

Alpine, Oakley, lots of places on the East Bench but it can get spendy. You wont find big large lots with private yards without spending $$. Im currently in OH, similar to your wooded area but a Utah Native. Planning on the move back myself, I think you will find it pleasantly surprising. For example.. closest major City, Denver, Vegas, etc.. 8 hours and lots of space between. Far fewer people, cleaner.. I can go on.

[boardnhike]

Finding a large expanse of wooded areas on the cheap can be tough. A nice area is Timberlakes near Heber. This is about 15 mins to Heber, 20 to Park City and about 1 HR to SLC Downtown. Nice and wooded and good size lots.

[kletter1mann]

What would locally be considered a "good size lot" within any community that's a reasonable SLC commute? My own standard would be 1 acre minimum lots and go up from there. There's a large cluster of such properties in Holiday, all are well into 7 digits.

[Chango]

In Utah, you aren't gonna have trees unless you are in the mountains or if someone planted them on your suburban lot. Most of the mountains/canyons are public land; private mountain land anywhere near the Wasatch Front is gonna be pricey.

Even then, Utah is a totally different set of environments than the East coast and you've gotta square with that if you want to be happy here. The closest you'll ever get are the older suburban neighborhoods on the East Bench but it still won't be the same.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

OP, Utah is high desert country. Look elsewhere for your wooded land.

[awilk7]

Though Utah is drier overall than all other states besides Nevada, the high mountains (including the Wasatch Range) are a noticeably different climate than the high desert valleys and plateaus. Storms roll in from the west, pick up additional moisture as they pass over the Great Salt Lake and other lakes, are pushed upwards by the mountains, and finally release their moisture. Most of the precipitation here does fall in the form of snow rather than rain, but the end result is that the higher elevation mountain slopes and canyons are forested. It's not the same thick woods continuing for hundreds of miles in every direction as where you're coming from, but it does get dense in certain areas.

The region you want to research for more rural neighborhoods with some wooded landscape is the "Wasatch Back." This includes the following primary communities: Heber City/Midway, Park City, Kamas/Oakley, Coalville, Morgan, Huntsville. Wooded lots can be found in these areas, and in most cases (other than Park City) for less money than a lot in Holladay or the mouth of the Cottonwood Canyons.

You may want to check out Morgan Valley, particularly Peterson and Mountain Green. Mountain Green is about a 40 minute drive from downtown Salt Lake City, 15 minutes from downtown Ogden. Huntsville may be another one to consider, though you'll push past the 45 minute commute to Salt Lake if you move there.

[oldtrader]

If you want real forested type country as you are used to, you don't go to Utah. The trees are small, and the feel of being forested is not there.

If you want the type of forested areas you are used to, you have to go to the equivalent of the North East, which is the North West as far as forested areas go.

We moved from the North West to Colorado years ago, where we lived for a number of years. The treed area there is similar to what it is like in Utah. One of my wife's brothers and his wife came to visit from North West California. We lived in the mountain area with what they called forest there which is similar to Utah. Judy kept saying, how she loved those little tiny trees and how cute they looked. Until we explained, she thought the forests were where they had just recently replanted a cut over forest, and the trees were just taking hold and starting to grow.

In addition, the underbrush growth under the trees like in North East and Northwest is not there, is not in the Utah forests.