Feeling good. Actually, feeling good and exhausted. Having scaled the sandstone bluffs to get a glimpse of Delicate Arch, finishing in the late afternoon. We were now off to our end-of-day destination, Goblin Valley State Park. Goblin Valley is west of Arches National Park, south of I-70 some 30 miles off the beaten path (or so I thought).
I figured everybody would be attracted to the nearby National Parks, and nobody would be at a mere State Park. I was wrong. At 8 o'clock in the evening, we pulled to the Goblin Valley entrance only to be told all campsites were taken. Bummer. We needed to be there at least 6 hours earlier.
Well, no never mind. I knew of a few BLM campsites back in the canyons a few miles back down the dirt road. BLM campsites are primitive and are never full. This time I was right.
We set up our tent in the twilight. Though we had some dinner items, I only wanted some water and fruit after the hike to Delicate Arch in that afternoon. No regrets.
Up early in the morning with the sun. A few goodies from the ice chest for breakfast and then strike the tent and stow the gear back into the car trunk. We're going to go see some goblins.
Despite being aced out of a campsite inside the park, I think Goblin Valley is a relatively unknown place of interest in Utah. The midmorning sun was already casting hard shadows as we pulled into the parking lot atop the bluff overlooking the army of "goblins" marching in the valley below us. We applied sun screen and loaded up the water bottles and head down the trail to walk amongst the ranks of goblins - technically they are hoodoos formed by an overlying layer of hard sandstone that protects the underlying soft shales and mudstones from eroding as quickly, thereby leaving a capping hard sandstone on top of a softer shale pillar. I like the name of Goblin Valley, as these pillars, hoodoos do look like a grotesque army of red goblins.
We saluted the army of red goblins as they continued their march into geologic time, and then turned our backs and headed west to Nevada.
I figured everybody would be attracted to the nearby National Parks, and nobody would be at a mere State Park. I was wrong. At 8 o'clock in the evening, we pulled to the Goblin Valley entrance only to be told all campsites were taken. Bummer. We needed to be there at least 6 hours earlier.
Well, no never mind. I knew of a few BLM campsites back in the canyons a few miles back down the dirt road. BLM campsites are primitive and are never full. This time I was right.
We set up our tent in the twilight. Though we had some dinner items, I only wanted some water and fruit after the hike to Delicate Arch in that afternoon. No regrets.
Up early in the morning with the sun. A few goodies from the ice chest for breakfast and then strike the tent and stow the gear back into the car trunk. We're going to go see some goblins.
Despite being aced out of a campsite inside the park, I think Goblin Valley is a relatively unknown place of interest in Utah. The midmorning sun was already casting hard shadows as we pulled into the parking lot atop the bluff overlooking the army of "goblins" marching in the valley below us. We applied sun screen and loaded up the water bottles and head down the trail to walk amongst the ranks of goblins - technically they are hoodoos formed by an overlying layer of hard sandstone that protects the underlying soft shales and mudstones from eroding as quickly, thereby leaving a capping hard sandstone on top of a softer shale pillar. I like the name of Goblin Valley, as these pillars, hoodoos do look like a grotesque army of red goblins.
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| Goblin Valley Hoodoo goblins (3 to 30 feet tall) march in formation across the desert valley floor |
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We saluted the army of red goblins as they continued their march into geologic time, and then turned our backs and headed west to Nevada.
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