Return to Goblin Valley

We returned to Goblin Valley State Park for more adventures, our last visit being in 2021.

View from the top of the valley of goblins

This time we stayed in the cozy campground, situated about a mile from the valley of goblins but occupying its own interesting terrain. It is nestled in a recess with surrounding blobby cliffs with fun hiking trails departing from the campground. Our first night there we walked up on Curtis Bench at sunset to get a nice view of the campground. This is very dark sky area and the nighttime star views were spectacular.

Julie airs down the tires for our 4x4 adventure

Let’s backup a bit though: on the way in we intentionally took the Goblin Valley Cutoff road, a low-to-medium difficulty 4x4 track that meanders for about 5 miles from highway 24 to the park entrance. It was more challenging than we expected and another great test of our growing skills. Lots of soft sand so we aired down the tires, and in some spots were in low 4WD for hill and rock climbing. I drove us into the park, and Julie drove us on our exit.

Dinner in the van with a view of the valley

On our second day we both worked a lot during the day, plus I was watching the Masters. We ended the day with a scramble to the top of the valley of goblins, always an adventure because you never go the same way twice. Getting up high and seeing the desert plain to the east and valley to the west makes it so worthwhile. We hung out in the van for dinner in the parking lot, keeping the back doors open for a beautiful sunset view of the valley.