September 25, 2004—Goblins A Go Go 

When one sets foot in Goblin Valley, you think you’ve escaped into a movie set for a mad hatter’s tea party or paper Mache’ marching mushrooms. Or is this possibly NASAs new training ground? Egad, they’ve sprouted everywhere, in all shapes and sizes!

Actually they are what are left of sandstone, eroded to the point of caricature after eons of time acting on this soft material. What’s totally unusual is their variety, their close proximity to each other, and the fact that you can run amongst them willy-nilly to your heart’s content.

Discovered by cowboys in the 1920’s, this eerie fantasyland was originally referred to later as Mushroom Valley by its first photographer Arthur Chaffin, whose intriguing photos attracted the first publicity. In order to protect the uniqueness of the area it was made a Utah state park in 1964. There is both day use and our aforementioned campground; no hookups, but water and dump available. Reservations seem to be a necessity even though this is well off the beaten path. Combined with the San Rafael Swell immediately to the west, it seems to have become the OHV playground of Utah’s greater valley, the Great Salt Lake.  

This valley is actually quite small, about a mile across, so an hour or two will suffice to see all the caricatures you probably want to see in a lifetime. The valley floor is surrounded by eroded castle like walls. Let your imagination run wild!