Travelogue

Goblin Valley CampgroundAfter our slot canyon hike, we headed over to the Goblin Valley Campground to “check in.” When we booked this campsite, the only one available was a “tent” site, so if we were traveling here in our Lazy Daze, we would have been out of luck. Our walk-in site included a picnic table with a shade covering, a grill, and a pad to put our non-existent tent on. All we needed was our parking spot.

Looking out over the Valley of GoblinsThe campground was very nice - set in a lovely setting surrounded by red rock walls with clean, modern bathrooms that even had showers.

Campsites were $45 per night, which was a bargain for what you got.

After a late lunch and a brief nap in the back of the truck, we headed over to Observation Point where we could look out over the Valley of the Goblins below. It’s the best view in the Park.

Herb and the Green Dome fantasylandThe valley, which is about a mile across and two miles long, is full of thousands of strange rock formations that resemble goblins. I kind of thought they looked more like mushrooms or giant phalluses, but I can see why the state of Utah went with the name Goblin Valley instead of the alternatives.

These pinnacles, which are only a few meters high, are composed of large, reddish-brown boulders which sit atop weaker sandy layers that have eroded away more quickly. The formations are nearly as dramatic as those in the more popular National Parks, but on a smaller scale and without the crowds.

Lolo wandering through the Valley of GoblinsIt was still a bit hot, and the light on the goblins was still a bit harsh, so we passed the time waiting for the golden hour sipping a glass of wine at one of the picnic tables in the Observation Shelter. It’s times like this that I really appreciate the refrigerator we have in the back of the 4Runner.

Once the light began to change and our glasses were empty, we took the short path from the Observation Shelter down into the Valley and wandered aimlessly amongst the goblins. There really was no specific trail to follow, so we just kind of randomly headed towards any formation that captured our fancy.

Bright red castlesThe “goblins” were very cute and being able to walk amongst them and get up close and personal gave a quite enjoyable and intimate feel to the place.

We headed across the Valley to a large copper green dome where we climbed up a hill and down into a fantasyland of spires and chimneys.

Balancing rocksAfter that Herb and I went in different directions. He likes to stay in one place and photograph the intimate details of a subject, while I like to run around like a nut, ensuring myself that I’m not missing anything, and taking in the overall scene.

I don’t have a particularly good sense of direction, and it was a bit confusing wandering aimlessly through the maze of hoodoos, many of which looked alike, so I tried to keep the Observation Shelter up top always in my sight.

Morning meeting with the aliensEventually I found Herb and we walked together back up to the Observation Shelter.

Before heading back to the campground, we got to talking to two gentlemen, Kevin from Arkansas and Mark from Manhattan. They told us that they met 26 years ago on a photo tour to Alaska and decided that they could do their own photo tours together as well. They have been doing that now for 25 years. Their specialty and passion is night sky photography and they showed us some spectacular photos they have taken of the Milky Way over iconic landscapes.

Take me to your leaderThe next morning we arose in time to get back to Observation Point for sunrise.

Once again, we hiked down into the Valley of Goblins. This time I headed towards the left rather than the right and wound up in a wonderland of ET-like figures. You could definitely let your imagination run wild in this place - aliens, castles, mushrooms, phalluses, and more. It was like playing the cloud shape game.

After climbing back up to Observation Point, we drove out the park exit and turned right onto a dirt spur road to Molly’s Castle, a gigantic red butte that looks a bit like a Medieval castle, rising 265 feet above the surrounding terrain.
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Molly's CastleFrom here we could have continued on the very bumpy dirt road for about 10 miles for a short cut back to Highway 24, but unsure of the road conditions, we went back to the Goblin Valley State Park exit and took the longer asphalt workaround.

From there we headed to the town of Hanksville, stopping for lunch at Duke’s Slickrock Grill before heading out to explore more of the southern section of the San Rafael Swell, northwest of town.