La Verkin - Our Last Stop in Utah

Pine Valley Mountains

We moved to La Verkin, Utah, into a small rural community of 4K+ residents with a distant view of the Pine Valley Mountains, a fascinating location with incredible geologic facts and significantly cooler summer temperatures compared to La Verkin. There are no taxis or Ubers in La Verkin and it is common to see yards with horses grazing and chickens running the land. The local terrain held some mammoth rock canyon formations and off trail type hiking paths right in our neighborhood where the confluence of Ash Creek and La Verkin Creek join the Virgin River which flows east into Zion National Park and beyond. 

LaVerkin Creek Trail

After the bustle of St. George, La Verkin’s energy was a welcomed low key experience. Nathan and I dove into setting up our household enjoying lots of high end thrift store shopping in nearby St. George and the small town of Hurricane next door (pronounced "Her-ah-kun" ) known for powerful winds common to the region.  An almost constant wind flow drove terra cotta colored sandstone dust into our closed windows and onto our window sills. I didn’t mind that at all and I still love that coloration. We bought home grown vegetables from a local home based business. I connected with a wonderful local merchant and sold some of my jewelry in her beautiful shop right on the main road. Nathan built a rock garden (of course), and began exploring the local habitat.

Watching occasional, rare snowfalls was especially exciting! So rare that I can't find those photos! My favorite and most majestic memories, though, are from hiking the Red Cliffs Recreation Area in nearby Leeds. 

Red Cliffs Recreation Area

Four months into our lease, the pandemic knocked on America’s door.  All attempts by us to make new friends and socialize in a local rock club were suspended and we hunkered down with his rocks and my beads, heading out to wide open spaces, enjoying the mystical land on which we felt privileged to live. It became a very lonely existence to have left our tribe behind in Florida and live in isolation. We were literally “strangers in a strange land”. Nathan did lots of local rock hunting on his own and often returned with 40 pounds in his backpack. 

Just across the street from our apartment

One morning, the LaVerkin Policement Department knocked on our door to investigate us as possible squatters due to the neighborhood’s suspicions surrounding Nathan’s comings and goings, bundled tightly against the cold and always harnessed to a backpack.  We welcomed their visit!  LOL

All this said, our stay in La Verkin provided a healing of some type as the solidarity of silence and introspection brought out all “the life long uglies” I carried and had yet to be disposed of. Like many others during the pandemic period of sheltering-in-place, I came to know myself in such a different way. Literally, as we approached La Verkin with all our earthly possessions, I had secretly “surrendered” to the mountains for whatever healing the Universe felt was appropriate. Well, eventually all hell broke loose.  That said,  I have no regrets for all that unfolded during that time. It was a freeing experience from which I still carry the results. It also set the stage for my next healing that would place in Tucson, Arizona. La Verkin was right where we belonged at the time. We stayed there longer than a year due to the pandemic but - finally vaccinated and motivated - we decided that Tucson was our next, and likely, our last stop. This time, we loaded up a rental  truck and our car and set out as a small caravan to the unknown.

Watch for next month's post from Tucson, our final stop in the Southwest.

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