Ok yes this park already looks amazing and cool on Instagram, but it is TRULY MAGICAL. And I'm not one of those people who thinks every mountain summit or road trip changes her life.
I headed on from Dead Horse Point to camp outside Goblin Valley. I got there right as the sun was setting and got to see the sky change color in my rear view mirror, and then really light up behind the Henry Mountains when I pulled into the gravel lot where I was going to sleep (which are way underrated btw).
That sky tho. The second one is the view from the back of my Jeep where I slept.
It was going to get down close to freezing, and I was alone, so I just slept in the back of my Jeep. I pulled into a huge gravel lot at the last intersection before the park itself, 7 miles from the park entrance. It's BLM land and it's free! Pictures on google earth show me that it's a zoo of RV's in the summer, but I just shared with one RV on my Sunday night excursion in February. I didn't mind them, they were quiet, a middle aged couple that made me feel safer being alone in the night haha.
The stars were WIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLDDDD. I grew up where you can see the milky way every night, so it was nice to be reunited with it. The silence was truly deafening. My ears were ringing for a long time, because I haven't had that kind of silence in a REALLY long while. I love the desert.
I also got treated to a great sunrise. I let the sun dissipate the fog on the inside of the windows, and headed 200 yards down the road to some giant pictographs.
My bby
The pictographs are about 6 feet tall!
I headed to the park after that and got a Junior Ranger book for $0.50. The VC is small and has about 3 parking spaces, which I was a little confused about, but it worked for me, because I was the ONLY one there for about an hour. Well, there was one guy bumping the bass in his car in the Valley of Goblins parking lot who never left his car, but once I descended from the parking lot to the valley, I couldn't hear him, so whatevs.
There are some actual trails, but the main thing to do it just freely wander through all the goblins in the valley! There are 3 sections/valleys, and you can just wander wherever you want! It's brilliant. And you can't get lost, because the valley is shallow, and you can get a view of the parking lot pretty easily at any point. I wandered, delighted and softly exclaiming, among the goblins all by myself for a while. I took some photos with my tripod without any worry of embarrassment for being a basic Instagram chick. And then I wandered through this fantastic canyon where you can just crawl all around like a child on a playground, never high or steep enough to really worry, like a Slot Canyon Lite™.
Goblins
Gotta get that Instagram shot
Me awkwardly with a goblin
This is at a pull off with room for 1 car on the way back from the Goblin Valley
The magical canyon!
I was impressed by the lack of wear and tear I saw. No carvings, vandalism, or graffiti that I saw. Just two pieces of trash. A gum wrapper and some women's underwear... someone had fun behind a goblin 😳
I awkwardly got sworn in as a Junior Ranger, had the other half of that Subway sandwich, and headed back to SLC. Super sad to leave the desert! I must hurry back, before it gets too hot and crowded.
People ask me how I'm able to go on so many adventures. I say it's just about prioritizing, and being efficient with your time. Also:
😉
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