Hiking with the Goblins - Utah

Hanksville, Utah

Goblin Valley State Park

 

 What are all those things down there?

 

 Hoo Doos!  Or Goblins as they are also known. Thousands and thousands of them!

From the overlook they are everywhere down in the valley.

 Steve peeking through a window.

 It was wonderful that you could bring dogs down there. They ran around and had a blast!

 Jack, the youngster of the trio, ran circles around Hurley!  He is a bundle of energy for sure!  All Hurley wanted to do was lay in the shade.  It was pretty warm out.

 

 Go Jack, GO!

And wait for the end to see what Hobie (Thug Dog) does at the end to show off!

 

 A large finger pointing at Cori.

There were so many shapes of rocks we just laughed, pointing out what we thought they looked like.

 King of the Rock!

 Cori contemplating life.

 Layers and layers.

 And here is Crazy Jack again.  I swear he never stopped running the entire time we were down there.

His feet aren't even touching the ground!

 You'd think it would be barren down there but there was some color here and there.

 The Gang: Greg, Steve, Lee, Trace and Cori.  And Hobie!

  

 There were walls, canyons, hoo doos and color everywhere! You just walk around wherever you want.  There are about 3 sections to this huge area.  I think we wandered for miles in 2 of them.

  Me, Cori and Trace.

 Jack, Hobie and Hurley.

 Lee back in a really neat cave we came upon.

 Love all the balanced rocks.

Goblin Valley was featured in the movie Galaxy Quest in 1999 as an alien planet.

  Kids could just go crazy out here.  I'm sure you could have one heck of a game of hide and seek!

 Lee

This is truly one of the most fascinating places I've ever been to.  It was even better than I remember.  This is someplace you must visit.  It's very remote, but worth the visit.

 A rock bridge.

 Trace with Jack and Hobie.

 Cori and Hobie.

 

 King of the Mountain!

 Such odd shapes.

 

 You climb up one wall and you see a yet another valley full of goblins!

  

 

  

 Someone did not follow instructions!

 

 Most everything was red, orange or pink.  Now and then you'd see grays that really stood out.

 A rubber ducky!

 These "goblins" dwarfed us. 

 

 We must've hiked 5 miles down here.  We hardly saw anyone else. What a great time.

Wild Horse Butte.

  Driving the short distance back to the campground and there is more beauty there too.

 The Three Sisters

There are several Pronghorn in this area.

 

 Such spectacular views from our campsite.

 

 

The next day Steve, Cori, Lee and I went to do the Curtis Bench Trail which overlooks the Valley of the Goblins as well as another part of the park.

 We did the short hike which took us to a gray stone overlook.  The contrast of color is beautiful.

 

  Good to know.  It's a long way down from the end of the gray rock.

 

 

 

It was another great hike and I'm loving being out on the trails this much.  We really did get lucky with the weather.  It's been very warm and it feels good to be out without jackets and so many layers.  Now if the wind would just calm down a bit.

Another view looking down at the campground from one of the bluffs.  You can see Lee and Trace on the far left and us to the right.

 Today is our last day in the Goblin Valley Campground.  Tomorrow we'll head around the butte to a great spot that Lee scouted out.  Love these cute old trailers.

 

We still have an amazing hike coming up and a birthday......