Leading up to the Goblin Valley camp out, most of the adult participants were anxiously watching the weather forecast. March and April in southern Utah can bring just about any kind of weather you can imagine. And Goblin Valley is not the kind of place where rain and snow would make for a good outdoor experience. Unless you like mud 3 to 4 inches thick stuck to the bottom of your boots and all through your car.
We were all so pleased as we watched the 10 Day Forecast, then the 5 Day Forecast, and so forth to see that the weather was going to be pretty good. What we found was that the weather was absolutely perfect.
One vehicle with with Brian and Rick and their boys got an early start @ 2pm on Friday, March 9th and arrived at the State Park while it was still light. The rest of us, 7 adults and 9 young men left at 4pm.
Traffic through Utah County had some stop and go, but for the most part not too bad considering the I-15 eternal contruction project. The weather was nice and sunny and very few clouds in the sky. The temperatures from Sandy to Price were in the mid 40's most of the time with some colder temperatures around Soldier Summit and as we dropped down through Price Canyon.
We stopped for dinner at our traditional place, A&W / KFC in Price. We like to stop there as it provided a lot of choices for anyone one who prefers something else as there is a Taco Bell, Burger King, Wendy's, and even a Chinese Buffet all within walking distance of one another.
Back on the road again, the drive was uneventful which is a good thing along Hwy 6 from Price to I-70 which has had a nasty reputation for some pretty gnarly accidents when impatient drivers try and get around the slower vehicles by passing when there is only one lane each way.
I can't remember exactly when it got dark, but the stars were brilliant and that was the case along Hwy 6, as well as when be made the zig-zag along I-70 and then south again on Hwy 24 to Hanksville. Along Hwy 24 we were very impressed to see the moon begining to rise in the east in a dull redish orange, and it was huge.
We arrived in the park around 8:30pm just as the moon was rising higher and brighter with every minute. Everyone got busy setting up their tents and getting all set before heading off to play night games. A fire was started and everyone seemed to be enjoying a cool, clear evening in Goblin Valley at the Group Camp.
All the boys and few of the adults took off around 10pm on a cross-country trek heading due south for the Valley of the Goblins which we estimated was about 1.5 miles away. We missed the Entrada Trail and found ourselves high on some ridges a few times, rimming out and having to backtrack a few times, deep in drainages, and eventually made it to the road about 1/2 way between the camp and our destination.
Upon arriving at the overlook, we were not disappointed in the way the moon was casting long, dark shadows all over the valley. Everyone divided up into two teams, identified by either red (pink) or yellow glow in the dark necklaces. Both teams had a large glow in the dark stick that represented their team flag and the wild game of Capture the Flag began.
With the air nice and cool and the valley lit up by a very bright moon high up in the sky now, it made for a perfect setting for night games. The hoodoos were very unusual and the shadows almost scary at times, but overall just a lot of fun.
The games concluded around midnight and a walk back to the camp was a good chance to cool off. We thought we had more than accomplished our goal of completely wearing out the boys. But to our surpise, many stayed up to 1am to enjoy the fire and wind down. Much to our dismay, they didn't really quiet down until around 1:30am. I guess we didn't do so well at wearing them out after all.
In the morning, again much to our surprise, the talking and noise started up not too long after about 6am. The sun was rising fast at 7:30am and a big pancake breakfast by Jon was off to a great start by 8am.
After breaking down camp and packing up we were back in the Valley of the Goblins by 10am. It was interesting to hear many of the night games participants to say how different it all looked in bright daylight.
Most of the group decided to just stay and explore the main valley, while 6 of us decided to see if we could get far enough to the south/southwest to see Valley #3 and then work our way back to Valley #2.
We ended up hiking down the major drainage to the west until we felt like we probably went too far south. Colby climbed up a very tall hill and could see that we had, and so we worked our way back southeast this time and made it into what we thought was Valley #3.
On the way Ted found a rock that looked a lot like a brain with right and left side lobes. We were all so excited that after 15 years that Ted finally found his brain. That alone was worth the effort to explore Valley #3.
After exploring a large section of Valley #3 we starting heading northeast and worked our way back into the same drainage we had come down. Upon reaching the drainage again, we realized the it would have been very difficult to find the place where you would turn left to find Valley #3.
We met Brian, Luke, and Brandon on the way back just to the north of Valley #2. We decided that we were tired enough and that heading back to the cars was a good idea. We also decided that the 2nd Annual Goblin Valley NIght Games Camp was a good idea for next year.
After everyone got reorganized and all packed up we headed for Green River to enjoy a well deserved burger at Ray's Tavern. Jon arrived about 20 minutes ahead of everyone else and was surprised to find the place packed with what looked like a bunch of golfers. The expectaion was it would take a long time to get a seat and then get served, so the rest of us opted for fast food in either Green River or Price.
Everyone was back home by 7pm and I think everyone created some very fond memories of Goblin Valley and a weekend that couldn't have had conditions any better than what we enjoyed. Another fun camp and we look forward to next year to do a repeat. Maybe this will become an annual tradition similar to our Annual Cooking Contest.
Thanks to all who participated and especially those who helped with the breakfast and driving the long distance of about 200 miles each way. It was well worth every mile to get there!
