Goblin Valley State Park, Utah
Once again, I woke up before Tyler and Dawn, and decided to let them sleep in while I walked around and explored the park. Now that I could see it in daylight, I could appreciate how the park got it's name! All the eroded dirt "knobs" or hoodoos, much smaller than those in Bryce, were visible. People called them "Goblins" because of the eerie way they look in fog or darkness. The soil composition seemed to be similer to that of Badlands National Park, kind of a hard packed clay that formed into these shapes due to wind and water erosion.
I found a narrow slot canyon, and explored it. It was about 50 feet tall, but only a few feet wide. It wound its way into the hillside, and came to and end.
When the rest of the crew got up, we packed up our belongings and went to the restrooms to take showers...but the shower doors were locked! We asked the camp attendant about it, he said the restrooms had just been built and the showers were not hooked up yet! Apparently, this park is more of a day-trip destination, for picnickers and the like, and doesn't see as many overnight guests like us. Plus, everyone else had their own RV's. I guess tent campers like us are a dying breed! Oh, well, we washed up as best we could in the restroom and headed off to explore the park.
There were many trails and walking paths all around the goblin hoodoos, and Tyler delighted in climbing most of them. It seemed to be a valley of giant stone mushrooms! It's very interesting how you can be driving along a regular desert landscape, then all of a sudden come across all these strange little knobs, all about the same size. We walked around, took several pictures, then it was off to our next stop...Canyonlands National Park!
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