TL;DR
We stopped by Goblin Valley on our drive from California to Utah. Its a scramblers paradise and also offers a variety of slot canyon hikes in the surrounding region. Its a good stop over point if you don’t feel like doing the 14+ hour push across the desert. Camping is available inside the park as well as outside the park on BLM land.
Where we camped: BLM off Wild Horse Rd, Goblin Valley Campground Where we hiked: Goblin Valley, Little Wild Horse Canyon When we went: October 2014
Thoughts
In the fall of 2014, we took a road trip out to Utah. The start of our road trip took us to Goblin Valley State Park in south western Utah. I actually knew very little about the park aside from that it contained interesting rock formations. What transpired ending up being a great adventure. We pulled onto Goblin Valley road from the highway around 1AM. Goblin Valley happens to have a very convenient BLM campsite right next to it.
**First time using BLM camps. I must say it is incredibly convenient if you don’t mind the lack of amenities. Also, it’s free.
We awoke the next morning to 20 mph winds. Over the next hour or two these slowly increased to about 40 mph as we moved camp over inside the park. It made setting up our tents interesting to say the least. Also pointed out a major flaw in the design of my tent. My pet peeve is poorly engineered things. Up until now I was pretty happy with my 2 person Marmot Limelight tent. It’s decently light, roomy and incredibly easy to set up. However, the mesh sits too low to the ground and the rain fly barely covers it. Combine this with some strong winds and a lot of sand and you end up with about of pound of sand sitting across your tent floor. *facepalm*
Tent reviews aside, after we set up camp we went out to the main valley. The area is
actually the result of an ancient ocean that dried up and refilled several times over the millenia. What is left is a vast valley full of quirky sandstone rock formations they call goblins. Rain from a time long forgotten, along with wind, have shaped the rocks and walls. This expansive area was, much to my surprise, free to climb on. Visitors are free to wonder as they will with zero infrastructure. We scrambled over some ridges and climbed up to the high points only to see that these goblins went on for miles. It became our playground for the day.
Outside the park are also some easily accessible slot canyons. The Goblin Valley visitor center has a good topographical display of the surrounding area so you can get a good idea of how long the different hikes are. Be sure to check the weather conditions prior to hiking. These canyons can flood if it rains upstream. After our afternoon of scrambling on goblins, we did a short stint up Little Wild Horse Canyon. Incredibly beautiful and the walls are so smooth and water-worn. The width varied from huge open space to about 3 feet across. The the layers of rock create ribbons of pinkish browns the run along the walls of the canyon. I was very much reminded of bacon. All in all, it ended up being an exhausting yet fun day and we woke up covered in even more sand.
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