Goblin Valley, Utah Day 2 of Our Vacation

Monday, March 24

Monday morning proved to be as beautiful as we had hoped. The nearly full moon was just peeking over the rock formations in the distance when we woke up . (The moon had been full just a night or two before. During the night it was so bright that I thought the neighbors had left the lights on their van on.) Larr and I awoke before the kids and sat, enjoying the quiet. There was a light breeze. Birds were playing near the rock face and calling to one another. We sat, hot tea in hand, and took it all in. Soon enough it was time to get going. After a hot breakfast we were on our way.
We stopped by the ranger station to use the bathroom and then headed onto Goblin Valley. It is an unusual place, unique in fact. The geological structures are called hoodoos. There are various layers of rock, some softer than others. As water and wind whipped through the valley the bases wore away at a different rates. The result is funky ball-on-stick type of rock formations. When you are there it feels like you are on a different planet. In fact, the movie, “Galaxy” (made in 1999 with Tim Allen) was made in this valley. You can see the Styrofoam replica they used for one scene in the ranger station. It was great fun to walk around, climb on and through the rocks. Ethan even found a place that he just had to crawl through .He had a hard time getting his feet through, so I was not sure he could make it, but he did. Both Ethan and Ellie delighted in finding little pockets and caves in the rock where they could sit or pretend to sleep. They thought it would be a great place to camp. We also encountered a cave that winded through the side of a structure. If was not about to go in, but the rest of the family went for it. They climbed up to the entrance and started winding their way through. At one point it seemed nearly pitch black since the darkness was intense and your eyes had not adjusted. Soon after that the room opens up. There is even a “window” at an upper level. It was a tight space. The kids tell me that it was so small that the only way you could stand fully erect was if you were as short as Ellie. One room had a skylight in the ceiling. At the end there was a small tunnel that led to a biggish round room. Ethan made it through the tunnel but Ellie and Larr did not. I sat on the rock outside, listening to a lecture that was going on. I learned about desert animals and plants. We went back to the car, had a fast lunch of PBJ sandwiches and fruit, then it was off to the Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon.
The walk to the Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon started off simple and pleasant, but I ran into a problem when I could not climb up the rock to join them. Larr, Ethan and Ellie scrambled up the rock, but I was stuck. I tried another route that took me higher and higher on a nearly cliff like section of the rock adjacent to where the rest of the family was. There came a point when I could not summon enough courage to go on. I felt stupid and scared as I sat on this bit of cliff when the kids climbed up to show me it could be done. I could not do it. I was scared I would slip and fall. I even felt like crying. The kids felt sorry for me, so we hiked back down to the rock that was such a problem for me earlier. This time they helped me up and we were back on track. The rest of the hike was a pleasant one. We walked through a dry riverbed to get to the slot canyon. It started out rambling and wide. Then it got thinner and thinner. The rock was amazing. Some sections had little divets and holes carved out. Other parts were heavy with desert varnish and stripes of colored rock. Then we got to a few sections where it was so thin that it was barely wider than us. At times I even had to bend this way or that to fit though. When it began to feel a bit tight I just had to look above me to see the blue sky or the light from the sky gleaming on the rock to feel less closed in. It was a great hike. I am really glad that my family helped me get past that road block.
Once we were done hiking we were tempted to go find another attraction to check out, but we found that the roads were a little more four wheel drive than we could do. Instead we went into Hanksville to get gas and maybe eat out. We got gas at a cool gas station that was built into the side of a rock. It was called the Hollow Mountain Gas Station. It was hard to pay $3.49 a gallon for gas, but we had to. It amazed me that it could be so high since I thought the $2.93 I paid at home was a high price. From there we headed to the Capital Reef State Park. The geology of that area was a bit different, but lovely as well. One spot afforded a view of some large petroglyphs of a few people and some animals. There was a photo from around the 1950’s that showed another large petroglyph of a person in ceremonial clothing. A huge chunk of the rock had cleaved away off the rock face, taking that drawing with it. My friend Wendy had suggested that we do waterpocket fold canyon, but we were running low on daylight and had to skip it. We stopped back by Stan’s Burger Shak in Hanksville on the way back for dinner. The kids also had giant shakes. Ethan got mint and Ellie got Oreo.
By the time we got back home we were tired. Ellie was out like a light in no time. Ethan, Larr and I admired the stars for a while before we went to bed. It was a satisfying day.