Goblin Valley (Emery County, Utah)

 

Southern Utah is without a doubt one of the most spectacular geological regions on the face of the planet. With numerous national and state parks, one could spend decades exploring and still not see it all. I had gotten camping reservations several months ago for this, the Memorial Day weekend, in Arches National Park and Friday afternoon, set out on my long drive from Reno. Though, I'm rarely one to stick with a single destination when there are so many options. A couple of years ago, I read a story of a couple of 'outdoor enthusiasts' maliciously destroying some of the incredibly geology at Goblin Valley State Park (I hope they were heavily fined AND incarcerated, if not just simply beaten), which until that point I had never heard of, but the story put the park on my radar. As it turns out, the park is only about an hours drive from Arches and I decided to take advantage of the proximity to visit the site.

The drive to the park follows some paved roads through the Utah desert south of I-70, but covers some truly beautiful expanses of land. Arriving at the park entrance, I noted the large number of RV's and tents that had set up camp outside of, but around the park. I suppose its hard to get reservations and the land here is not fertile enough to do much else with it. I can see why people would go this route. Entering the park, I get a map from the ranger and make way to the primary crowd draw.

Parking spots at the trail head is abundant, but on this holiday weekend, empty ones were few and far between. A ranger directing traffic suggested my pulling the jeep just off of the side of the road on the hill approaching the parking lot and then walk up to the trail head. I followed his advice, which offered a great opportunity to snap some pictures of the 'Three Sisters' formation, which is separated from the rest of the land features by a couple of hundred yards, but is one of the more iconic images from the park.

Arriving at the trail head, I'm somewhat in awe of all of the people. A covered picnic table area is packed elbow to elbow with families. No thank you - I'm here to enjoy the outdoors and so, I begin descending down into the valley itself to see the mushroom-shaped rock pinnacles known as hoodoos, or more commonly in this park, as 'goblins'. Thousands of these slightly larger than human-sized structures carpet the ground and come in a variety of shapes, most vaguely resembling mushrooms. The dried mud and sandstone has been carved away by erosion to leave these incredibly interesting features.

In addition to being in awe of the landscape before me, I also find myself getting irritated by the carelessness with which many of the visitors climb on and around the delicate structures. I truly wish people would consider how their actions may affect the world around them.

I continue exploring a bit, but there really isn't much of a trail to be found, just pathways between the dense hoodoos. After walking around for a short time, I decide to call it quits and head back to the jeep. I still have to get to Arches, check in and get my camp set up before sundown. I hope Goblin Valley is around long enough for you to visit it, but with the lack of concern people show for the interesting landscape, I'm not sure it will be.