This weekend is Halloween and I couldn’t think of a better time of year to talk about my trip to Goblin Valley State Park. The name Goblin Valley evokes spooky thoughts doesn’t it? And visiting this fun State Park in Utah gave off the feeling of spookiness. But it also had a bit of whimsy- the formations look like something straight out of a Dr. Seuss book.
Prior to Goblin Valley State Park…
If you’re new to my blog, this trip occurred at the end of July, while my boyfriend and I were taking a road trip to several National Parks. Our trip started in California at Joshua Tree NP. Then we headed into Utah where we spent the majority of our time. Several nights were spent in Kanab, because of its close proximity to so much! During our stay there we visited and hiked Zion NP and Grand Escalante National Monument.
On the day that we checked out of our Airbnb in Kanab, we drove east and spent the morning at Bryce Canyon National Park. I loved Bryce Canyon, walking amongst the hoodoos was incredible. Half a day was all we needed to see a lot of the park and get a few hikes in. In the afternoon we visited Capital Reef National Park. Then we set off for the next place we would be staying for several nights- Moab, Utah.
Getting to Goblin Valley State Park
Before our big trip, I had started a list of places that I wanted to visit, and Goblin Valley was on this list. But other than making the list and deciding where we would be spending the evenings, we didn’t make big plans for our road trip, we were pretty spontaneous. It wasn’t until we were on the road to Moab, when I spotted a sign telling travelers to turn left for Goblin Valley, that I even recalled that it was on my wish list. Luckily, Brandon made a sharp turn and made my wishes come true.
Moral of the story- whether you are visiting Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef, or Arches National Park, you are not too far away from Goblin Valley State Park. Take the opportunity!
The terrain as you’re driving to Goblin Valley from the main road (route 24), is pretty flat, especially compared to the numerous mountain ranges that we had driven through in other parts of the state. We passed just a few unique rock formations, like what you see at left. And you’re in the middle of nowhere, so we were wondering just how far it would take to get to Goblin Valley (going off just a sign that told us to turn left). But after less than 20 minutes (when Brandon and I had some of our best duets), we reached the entrance to the park.
The cost to visit Goblin Valley State Park is $15 per vehicle, but you are able to visit for a full 24 hours. Unfortunately our National Park pass did not include Goblin Valley, which is a Utah state park. But it is worth the cost! The helpful attendant gave us a map to the “goblins”, answered some of my questions, and off we went.
Three Sisters
First, we passed the Three Sisters formation. This is probably the most well-known rock formation in the park. You can see it driving from the road, but there is an unmarked trail that exists if you want to get a closer look.
We passed on the right a little section where we saw lots of “goblins”. I loved them immediately, but we drove on, wanting to begin our foray in the park with the main attraction.
Valley of Goblins
The MAJOR thing to see in the Valley of Goblins. There is a large parking lot (where the only bathroom facilities are located), which also has a covered pavilion. The pavilion acts as an observation point, and from there you can see the expansive Valley of Goblins. The valley stretches out nearly three square miles and filled with thousands of the goblin formations.
There are some steps down into the valley, and then you are free. There are no formal trails, instead you can just wander around the formations. Visitors are allowed to climb and explore as they please. You could get almost lost wandering around these rocky beasts.
In the valley, thousands of knobby sandstone goblins stretch as far as the eye can see. These are technically hoodoos, like what we saw at Bryce Canyon National Park. However, the formations here have a definite goblin-like appearance. Being surrounded in the middle of hundreds of these goblins in the red dirt you feel as if you’re on another planet. In fact, the movie Galaxy Quest was filmed here.
What caused these goblins?
These goblins were carved by erosion and are scattered all around this valley. Here’s your history lesson. Hoodoos were formed over hundreds of years by rain and wind eroding layers of the sediment away. What was left was these formations- the Hoodoos. The sandstone dates back to the Jurassic era, dating them at over 170 million years old!
The day we were at Goblin Valley State Park the temperature reached well over 100 degrees. In fact, my traveling partner Brandon only lasted about 10 minutes before he returned to the car to seek shelter from the blistering heat.
However, I just loved these goblins so much I wandered around for quite a bit longer. They seemed to go on forever. You would scramble up some formations just to be greeted by hundreds more. I was literally the only person walking out there that day because of the heat, and it was eerie, yet so fun!
One of my favorite goblins was this guy, who I thought looked a bit like a robot, and was standing at attention by himself. When I got near him I couldn’t believe how tall he was!
Spring and fall would be the best time to visit Goblin Valley. It gets stifling hot in summer (speaking from experience), and very cold in the winter (though seeing these guys covered in snow would be pretty awesome I bet!). In the spring and fall you might want to choose a secluded spot and picnic there. There are really three areas in the valley to explore, if you aren’t as lucky as I was and want to explore a less occupied area when you visit.
Other attractions at Goblin Valley State Park
There’s more to Goblin Valley State Park than just the Valley of Goblins. The park also offers six miles of hiking trails. One regret I actually have from our whole 3 week roadtrip is not having done more research about Goblin Valley State Park, otherwise I would have learned about the camping here!
There is a campground which I would have loved to stay in and would highly recommend just from looking at it. You can set up your RV or tents and there are 2 yurts that are available for renting.
I imagine it would be very fun to play among the goblins after dark. I also read that this is an amazing spot for stargazing as there is nothing near Goblin Valley State Park that would pollute the sky. In fact it’s a certified international dark sky park!
Disc golfing at Goblin Valley State Park
We also took advantage of there being a disc golf range at the park. It’s free to play with admission to the park. You can rent discs at the front entrance if you don’t have any with you, but Brandon came prepared!
Before we realized where the actual range was Brandon threw some discs in the valley.
Even though it was sweltering hot it was still fun to play a couple holes. The first basket we threw to started at the top of a hill. Brandon was pretty impressive!
There were also some buckets that you had to be able to make around a mountain side.
When I threw it was a little less impressive.
There you have it, Goblin Valley State Park. Even though this isn’t one of the National Parks in Utah, it was really one of my favorite places to visit during our trip, and I hope you get to see it in person one day too!
If you have any suggestions for where I should visit soon, please leave a comment. And make sure to subscribe so you can try keep up with my latest adventure on Catching Katie. Thanks for reading!
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