Goblin Valley

Visiting Goblin Valley has been on my list for a while. Finally Amber and I made it happen. It was the first summer trip. Yahoo! We left Thursday when Amber got off work and came back Saturday afternoon. It was the perfect amount of time to spend at the park, in my opinion.

Thursday night we set up camp at a very windy BLM site. It was free so that was awesome but it was very windy. We got there in time to set up camp, go for a very short walk, get rained on, watch the sunset and go to bed.

We woke up so early Friday morning. The sun was up before 6am. Yikes! Luckily we had gone to bed at a reasonable time. We started our morning off by hiking Little Wild Horse Canyon. This is an 8 mile loop hike right out side of Goblin Valley. It doesn't have to be done as a loop but often is. We first hiked up Bell's canyon and then came down little wild horse. I am glad we got an early start because it was really hot and a lot more crowded when we were finishing.

 Moki was a champion. Her and I got to work on our trust. There were a few spots I had to lift her up and a few spots I had to bring her down. It was a little rough for both of us but we survived. I have some scratches and bruises on my arms and hands to demonstrate that the struggle was real. She started running away from me when we got to the tricky spots because she knew she would need help. It was hilarious. She really is the best dog. She led the way the entire time. . . . like a boss.

These pictures are not in order. Little Wild horse was the area that had the really close walls. It was awesome. I was surprised at how much of the loop hike is actually not in a canyon.

It was a gorgeous morning.

 The canyon walls are so fascinating. It really is a cool to hike in area like this. There were definitely some tighter spots. I would not be up for going in canyons that are closer together than these walls were.

 Somehow Amber and I never get a picture together. That is really LAME!

Overall we loved Little Wild Horse. It is a great hike. Dogs are allowed and children would love it. I wouldn't do the full loop with little kids but you could definitely do an out and back!

 After we finished that hike we went into Hanksville to get some lunch. It was getting close to 90 degrees and so we wanted to let the hot part of the day pass before we did more hiking.

Hanksville is a very tiny town. It had a nice little burger joint that we enjoyed. Then we went to the local elementary school and rested in the shade until it was cool enough to hike some more.

 I am so happy I threw in my hammock at the last moment. It was a great way to relax and rest during the heat of the day.

We stayed at the school until the around 5pm. Then we were ready for some dinner and a chance to hike a little more. This time we headed into Goblin State Park. The park itself is pretty small and so there isn't a ton to do there. We hike a little four mile loop from the campground. We hiked the Curtis Bench Trail out to the observation point and then came back on the Entrada trail.The weather was cloudy and windy so it made for a perfect evening after a very hot day.

The formations looked like mushrooms. I had the Mario Brothers theme song stuck in my head!

 It was so windy.

 The trails are not marked very well but we survived.

 Since we were in the state park I kept Moki on the leash.

One of Amber's super powers is to take pictures of the signs so she can read them later.

It was a gorgeous evening for a hike.

Moki leading the way

 We got back to camp and our tents were a mess. Mine was half down from the wind and Amber's had dirt all on the inside also from the wind. It was crazy. We took care of that and then watched the most amazing sunset while we organized our stuff and brushed our teeth.

 I love that you can see the rays

 Moki was sooooooo tired.

 We had a really busy day. I was tired. It felt great to climb in bed and spend some time reading. Unfortunately I slept horribly. I was comfortable but just couldn't sleep. it was very annoying.

Saturday morning I got out of bed early. My tent was collapsing from the wind and I wanted to hike rather than lay in bed not sleeping. We cleaned up camp, which went quick because we just threw our stuff in the car because the wind was so strong we couldn't pack things properly.

We brought mountain bikes but didn't even use them. That was a bummer but the wind was so intense it sounded awful. We decided to do the last two hikes in Goblin Valley and then head home early.

We did the Goblin's Lair first and then finished with the Carmel Canyon hike. Both were short and pretty easy.

 It was steep getting up to the Goblin's Lair.

 It was really cool to look down into it. A little cave. Climbing back out to grab Moki.

  I had to drag Moki down some tough spots. I couldn't even bribe her with jerky. She was over me lifting her off of things:)

So cool once inside.

 It was a pretty hot day

 The three sisters!

Once we finished our little hike we decided to head home. We were tired and the thought of having the rest of the day to clean up and get ready for Sunday was very enticing. Overall it was a great trip!