Goblin Valley is one of those places that is so unique that you really have to experience it to understand it. For families with young children like mine, it's wonderfully hands-on, allowing amazing exploration opportunities within a few minutes of the parking lot. For those seeking solitude in their adventures, it's surprisingly easy to find areas without much foot traffic where you can wander for hours alone. It's a setting full of weird shapes, almost abstract in their form; breathtaking heights and drop-offs; delightful discovery of routes that wind around, over, and through the seemingly impenetrable; and surprising reminders of the delicate beauty of the life that clings to this unforgiving environment. It's an alien, apparently forsaken, yet still thriving land of austere beauty.
The slot canyons that cut through the neighboring San Rafael Swell offer yet another distinct flavor of adventure, with their banded colors and twisting corridors.
Image 1: The Sentinel Frogs
These iconic hoodoos are the first to greet visitors as they drive into the overview of Goblin Valley.
Image 2: Loner
Image 3: Glowing Corridors
Image 4: Tower
Image 5: Valley of the Goblin's Lair
Image 6: Valley of the Goblin's Lair Panorama
A 180-degree view of the valley.
Image 7: Inside the Goblin's Lair
The cathedral-like ceiling hangs 90 feet above the cavern floor.
This amazing place was only discovered within the last couple of decades.
Image 8: Pink Bands
Image 9: In the Trenches
Image 10: In the Trenches II
Image 11: In the Trenches II Panorama
Image 12: The Angel of Death
I've named the small hoodoo staring at us about 1/3 from the left side of the frame the "Angel of Death" because it sits at the edge of a place where the sand slopes downward from all sides towards a very small hole that drains whatever falls into that funnel. I don't know whether that sinkhole is a few inches, few feet, or perhaps dozens of feet deep--and I wasn't about to find out. This hoodoo sits on the precipice of a hundred-foot-high cliff, just across the canyon where the top entry of the now-famous Goblin's Lair was discovered only a relatively few years ago. Goblin's Lair features a 90-foot, free-fall rappel into a huge cavern and there is the possibility that this sinkhole could reveal something similar--and that's part of the mystery of this place.
Image 13: Looking Into Valley II
Image 14: In Valley II
Image 15: Pop of Color
Image 16: Pop of Color II
Image 17: Goblins and Arch I
Image 18: Goblins and Arch II
Image 19: Goblins and Arch III
Image 20: Goblins I
Image 21: Pocked Canyon
Image 22: Temple Mountain
Image 23: Peanut Gallery
Image 24: Goblins II
Image 25: Goblins III
Image 26: Tower II
Image 27: Goblins IV
Image 28: Tower III
Image 29: Abstract Shapes I
Image 30: Glowing Corridors II
Image 31: Sunset in the Valley
Image 32: In the Trenches III
Image 33: Sunset in the Valley
Image 34: Glowing Corridors III
Image 35: Goblins V
Image 36: Goblins VI
Image 37: Goblins VII
Image 38: In the Trenches IV
Image 39: Above the Trenches
Image 40: Abstract Shapes II
Image 41: Abstract Shapes III
Image 42: Abstract Shapes IV
Image 43: Little Wildhorse Twists
Image 44: Little Wildhorse Twists II
Image 45: In the Trenches V
Image 46: In Valley II Again
Image 47: In Valley II Again II
Image 48: Little Wildhorse Twists III
Image 49: Ancient Art in Decay
Image 50: Grumpy Old Man
Image 51: Pink Bands II
Image 52: Abstract Shapes V
Image 53: Little Wildhorse Twists IV
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