Thanks for the reply Alex, what you mention about using the 4 states to allow for the blending makes sense... I think
I tried using PM for opening/closing a gate earlier in another part of the same scene, this time with one animation for opening and one for closing on trigger enter/exit (as opposed to just an opening anim in the problem I am having now). What happened in the earlier attempt with two anims, was that I could not see the gate initially due to terrain, but I could see the state name that is displayed while playing in the editor, and again, at startup, the gate would start open (though the displayed state said closed), and it would immediately play the close animation before the gate itself was visible to me (purely by luck), at which point all worked as it should once I entered the trigger. Having less than 4 states seems to initiate the animation either at the end state (my current problem), or, in the example I just gave, midway between animations, before it resets itself. The difference being in the 2 anim case the door resets on its own, whereas my current problem resets on entering the trigger
In any case, I will give your suggestion a shot and let you know how it goes. Thanks again for your reply.