A few weeks ago, I went on my first bike ride near St. George. Temperatures were just starting to cool down enough to enjoy a couple hours outside after sunrise. Since I moved to the area in July, nearly everyone I’ve met has said some variation of, “You moved here at the wrong time! Just wait for the fall.”
Thanks to a tune-up and ride recommendations from Red Rock Bicycle Co., I was finally on the saddle again. As I pedaled on a gravel path through the sandstone cliffs at Snow Canyon State Park, I began to understand at a deeper level why so many people are moving to this corner of Utah.
It only took me ten minutes to drive to the state park, and I saw few other people during my ride through the canyon. While I’ve been reporting on the spikes in visitors at Zion National Park, I’ve also been learning about the beloved, easily accessible and less crowded recreation areas across Washington County.
In a roundabout way, my bike is one of the reasons I ended up as a reporter. For two summers in my early twenties, I biked across the Southwest and Alaska, interviewing people along the way about how their environments and communities were changing — from drier soils to closed coal mines. At the time, I didn’t call myself a journalist. But I was beginning to realize that few things bring me more joy and meaning than listening to someone’s story.
Eventually I landed a job at High Country News, a regional magazine where I covered land, water, energy and changing communities across the West for the past two years. When I saw The Tribune was hiring a reporter to write about an undercovered and rapidly growing part of my home state, I jumped on the opportunity.
Since I traded the mountains of Salt Lake for the red rock cliffs of St. George, I’ve already left several interviews pinching myself about how lucky I am to get to listen to your stories. From the firefighters in Pine Valley who vulnerably told me about their experiences with PTSD to the gardeners who gave me a tour of their little desert oases, southwest Utahns have already been so generous in sharing their time and perspectives with me.
I can’t wait to learn more.
Please reach out to me at blarsen@sltrib.com. I’d love to hear your story ideas, questions and favorite places to ride.