Our trip to Goblin Valley State Park started at Capitol Reef National Park. For most, Goblin Valley is a quick stop over or missed entirely but I had gotten a hot tip from a fellow RV doctor mom about this fantastic state park so we had planned to spend 2 nights there. We hadn't, however, planned to spend 4 nights there.....
We arrived in Capital Reef a bit tired from a big day of hiking in Arches and then the roughly 2 hour scenic drive to Capitol Reef. We arrived at Capitol Reef around dinner time. It was a bit chilly but sunny. The kids were really itching for some free play time so after a quick stop at the Visitors' Center, we let them play at will for the evening. Had we known how short our visit would be so short we would have explored more aggressively!
The next morning we awoke to this:
Now we winter camp so the snow itself wasn't alarming, however it was significantly more accumulation than predicted and it was not stopping like it was "supposed to". So as it became mid-day and it was still snowing we thought we better go to the Visitors' Center for an updated forecast. Well, non stop snow for 3 days was a bit more than we were expecting. Worse, the roads were closing so we wouldn't be able to access much of the park during our stay. Adam was understandably worried that we might have trouble driving out at all if the snow persisted. So we made a fast decision to flee. We packed up quickly and hit the road without a full plan:)
As we drove we checked weather all around and it seemed that really just Capitol Reef was getting snow- everywhere else was rain. So we decided to try stopping at Goblin Valley State Park early. Now Goblin Valley happens to be one of the most popular state parks and is generally booked solid. We didn't know that and our naiveté worked in our favor when we rolled in on a FRIDAY AFTERNOON and snagged a last minute cancellation! We were able to stay for 4 nights instead of the planned 2! PHEW!!
We got unhitched and settled. No snow here, but it started sleeting and then raining and it was about 50 degrees. Internally I was groaning. "Ugh, this weather, what are we going to do with 2 kids and a camper for days of rain." But externally, I said "Okay kids let's start drying out your snow gear and put on your rain gear!"My well trained outdoor focused kids didn't think a thing of it and put on rain coats, pants and gloves. If you don't have rain pants and rain gloves, get some!! They are the best!! The gloves in particularly are key as they are completely water proof so the kids can do all their usually play without getting wet hands- we use Pylorn O. Pyret gloves and they are fantastic. My amazing kiddos went to town playing "kitchen" on the dirt tent pad for hours, not a word of complaint about the quick pack up, the unexpected drive, or the weather. Man, I got lucky with these two (and a bit of good parenting to take credit for too, maybe?).
Now for my review of Goblin Valley State Park. I'd call this place a must do. Most people come here for the Goblins, and I'll get to that, but we didn't even go to the Goblin explore area until late afternoon of Day 2; we had plenty to do around the campground exploring and playing. The dirt here is incredible. It's unlike any dirt I have ever seen or felt. It's so soft! The only way I can think to explain it is that it's like solid mud. Soft, lovely mud that has *just* become solid so it's still very soft and almost wet but brushes right off because it's actually dry. (Now it was indeed mud during the rain, haha, but that was just the first day.) So simply running up and down the hills and climbing is a blast and you feel safe with the kids because it's so darn soft! We did a hike to the visitors center with our "Who Pooped on the Colorado Plateau" book and identified animal scat and tracks (this dirt is great for seeing tracks too). Then we played some disc golf. The disc golf course is awesome! It weaves around the campground up and down the dirt hills so you have to climb many of them to tee off. Super cool. We ended up doing this twice and both kids got into it. We allowed for plenty of free play time as well.
The next morning we headed off to the Little Wild Horse Canyon, an incredible slot canyon hike about 20 minutes from the state park. We got there at 9 and the parking lot was starting to fill so I imagine it can be unpleasantly busy both later in the day and later in the season; this is the most visited slot canyon in Utah. The hike was incredible. The kids were having so much fun they didn't even realize they were "hiking". It felt more like a climbing adventure- choosing your footfalls, climbing over rocks, squeezing yourself through crevices. It was an absolute blast. This hike can be a 8 mile RT (Bell Canyon Trail) or an out and back of whatever distance you choose. We chose out and back which allowed us to go through the narrow slots twice and the views really are different each direction. I can't recommend this highly enough. The only downside was all the dogs off leash. Many owners were not at all respectful with their dogs and I had to keep scooping Ollie up so he wouldn't get jumped on by stranger dogs. Really not cool and maybe going earlier is better to avoid that nonsense. We also saw a couple cats on the hike- they were well behaved!
That afternoon, we finally headed to the Goblin play area for which the park is named. This also is a must see. If you are just passing through, it's a great chance to experience the really unique dirt I mentioned but it's also an incredible play area for kids and adults alike. We ended up spending hours here on two different days, exploring in different directions, pretending to live in castles and defend our empire. Zooey and I came a third time at sunset and the lighting was intensely magnificent. If you have little kids allow a couple hours here for free play and climbing.
And then....the mountain biking!! This was incredible and I could have done this many days more. We weren't able to hit the mountain bike trail until the 3rd day out of rain concerns but holy cow it was FANTASTIC! The soft dirt makes for amazing riding and the scenery is unmatched. The dirt hills with the Colorado Plateau all around you and the snow capped mountains in the distance.- amazing. This was the first true "mountain" mountain bike experience for all of us and it was exhilarating to share a new fun, slightly risky, experience with all members of the family. It was so gratifying to see Zooey (7) go from being very timid at first with lots of stops and walking and nervousness about her abilities to flying up and down hills taking sharp turns and eventually even making mom's heart skip a beat as she unblinkingly rode on moderately steep cliffs. There's nothing more rewarding than seeing your kid learn a skill and gain confidence right before your eyes. And Ollie (3) loved it! He loved all the "bippity boppity bumps" and kept yelling for Adam to go faster. And then he napped. That was a bit of challenge as we didn't really want him bumping around while not protecting his neck so we had some slow going bits on the way back. This biking morning was really a major highlight of the trip for me and I'd love to come back and explore more of these trails on bike and by trail running.
The campground at Goblin was nothing special but the proximity to all the fun things can't be beat. As far as I could see there was really nowhere else to stay close by other than dispersed camping, which I definitely recommend. However, we didn't have confidence in our tow vehicle off road so we didn't get to partake in that incredible experience. But it appears very easy to figure out in this area- tons of dirt roads leading to non reservable dispersed camping sites. We've committed to getting a better tow vehicle and maybe even a more off-road friendly trailer (Opus 15 anyone???) in the near future.
The last afternoon at Goblin we decided to take a day trip back to Capitol Reef to try to see things we didn't get to due to snow. The scenic route was open again and it was a lovely drive. We are more into activities than driving, however, so I don't feel that we got a full taste of the park. We did stop and walk to see the petroglyphs which were very cool but we didn't have time for a full hike. I'd be happy to come back here but for me is not an absolute must do.
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