Day 8: Moab to the Valley of the Goblins
Dublin's Report
We left Utahraptor State Park in the morning. Wayne called it an excellent park and pretty much new, with power and water hookups at the site, no sewer connection at the site, and a dump station and showers available. We heard a train go by, which is the kind of thing that makes a morning feel like a real travel day, and then we were on our way to Goblin Valley.
The drive ran about 101 miles, north on US-191, west on I-70, and south on UT-24, with desert all around and photos all along the way. Then came the part we had been waiting for: the Valley of the Goblins.
Chester's Report
DAY EIGHT. GOBLIN VALLEY. Okay, first, these rocks are ridiculous in the best way. Thousands of mushroom-shaped goblins, all carved out of Entrada Sandstone laid down about 170 million years ago near an ancient sea, and the wind and water just kept at the soft parts until the hard caps were left standing on skinny pedestals. Most of them stand 5 to 15 feet tall. A man named Arthur Chaffin found this place in the late 1920s, called it Mushroom Valley, and came back in 1949 to photograph it. Utah made it a state preserve in 1954 and a state park in 1964, and honestly, good, because somebody needed to look after all these weirdos.
The posted guidance said stay on established paths, leash pets, take photos, and do not cause unnecessary erosion. So leashes on, paws careful, and we walked among the goblins together, Wayne holding our leads while the clouds piled up overhead. Dublin says the rules are the price of admission to a place this strange, and Dublin is right, and also I would like it noted that I was very well behaved around rocks shaped like mushrooms, which is harder than it sounds.
And then the funny parts, straight from the videos. One goblin looked like a person bending over kneading bread, and Wayne said, okay, if you say so, which is exactly the right response to a rock that looks like it is making bread. And just beside it was a duck goblin, and somebody asked what the duck says, and then there was quacking, which is also the right response.
We closed the day with evening light on the big layered butte above the valley, and tonight we sleep at our campsite at Goblin Valley. Tomorrow we drive to Capitol Reef. Follow Paws Parks and Provisions for more of the trip.
Dublin and Chester, Paws Parks and Provisions
Photos and video from the day
Goblin Valley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiIayRQumw8