After a warm week in Provo that turned frigid again just in time for the weekend, we decided to chase the warm-ish weather south for the day and spend a recent Saturday driving to and enjoying Goblin Valley State Park. The park is located off of Highway 24, south of Interstate 70, in south-central Utah, not quite 3.5 hours from Provo—that is, if you go the direct route.

For us, the drive is just part of the fun. Really, it has to be, if you’re going to choose to strap yourself into the car for upwards of seven hours round-trip with four kids in order to go somewhere great. Sure, the somewhere great (this time, Goblin Valley SP) is worth the trip itself, but why not just allow the trip to be worth the trip in itself too? With this sort of mentality we opted to arrive at Goblin Valley via a 4.5 hour trip which brought us in through Capital Reef National Park, along Highway 24 from the small town of Loa in the west, where it breaks off of Highway 72 South, traveling back east to our ultimate destination.

The decision to add an hour to an already day-long drive is easy to make, if you know how stunning the land around Highway 24, especially around Capital Reef, is. This is land worth driving just to be able to pass through it, to see it and experience it as you go about your day. Certainly, Capital Reef is also one of our favorite places to hike, and we’ll be going backpacking there soon, but this time was just for passing through. From east to west, from just before Capital Reef to a few miles after, much of the rock seems to progress from a deep red, to white and grey, perhaps blue, around the so-called Blue Hills. Full of amazing canyons, carved rock, pinnacles, plateaus, and bizarre mountains with fins flowing out from their bases; all with the Fremont River cutting back and forth throughout it.

As you travel through Capital Reef and west, beyond it, there are lots of great places to stop and look around. There are manmade sites, like ancient petroglyphs (rockart) and historic cabins and markers from early settlers; and natural features, like Chimney rock and Capital Dome, where our kids stretched their legs on the banks of the Fremont River. Perhaps my favorite part of this area, as far as the roads go, is on the dirt road (4-wheel drive required, though not technical) that leads off of Highway 24 into the Cathedral Valley section of Capital Reef. We drove down it a short way just for the fun and novelty of driving across the Fremont River Ford. The road doesn’t just cut straight across the river, but rather turns into it for less than 50 yards before climbing out on the opposite bank. t isn’t long, but really, how often do you get a chance to drive in a river safely? I can speak from experience, we once inadvertently drowned our Jeep Cherokee in a river; it took it two more days to die (not a good thing to dabble in unless you know the river well). I wouldn’t randomly drive across the Fremont river, either, but where the ford has been created it is safe enough in normal river conditions. The kids thought it was fantastic, laughing at the water splashing up on both sides of the car, the sound of the tires on the gravel of the river bottom almost lost in the sound of the water itself.

Fun as the drive was, the goal, after all, was the goblins. We arrived at the park just after 4:30, paid our $7.00 entrance fee, and drove to the parking lot just above the valley floor. Goblin Valley itself is not very big, up to two miles long and about one mile wide, at its widest point. But the park, of course, encompasses a larger area, with trails that climb along the ridge line of the surrounding hills, and a car-camping area. Additionally, the park is adjacent to the south east section of the San Rafael Swell, which means that there is a lot of area to drive, hike, and camp right around it.

Just off the parking lot, on a small plateau overlooking the Valley of the Goblins, is a wonderful, large, covered picnic area with a number of picnic tables. We had our dinner there, in the still bright sunshine, thanks to our recent time change to Daylight Saving Time. When we were finished with our meal we donned coats, hats, and gloves and headed down the short dirt trail to the valley floor. (It was, after all, still only 50 degrees, even if that was 10 degrees warmer than Provo, with an occasional wind it was by no means warm yet. However, keep in mind that in summer the temperature is often over 100 F.)

Although there are, supposedly, set trails that circle the valley, the whole floor is open, filled with the goblins, and you are welcome to wander among them and climb upon them as you choose—of course being careful to not deface any of them. Now, contrary to what my husband tried to convince our children of before we arrived at the valley, there are no real goblins in the park. The valley is also sometimes referred to as "Mushroom Valley," because the sandstone formations are somewhat bulbous, generally with harder rock on the top layers so the body of the goblins is narrower, weathering more quickly, while the tops are somewhat bigger.

Whatever you want to think of these thousands of rock formations as, there is no denying that they are unique and bizarre. Directly across from the parking lot, the east side of the valley is rimmed with red rock cliffs, the remnant of the layers of rock from which the goblins were formed in the first place. As you look out, it appears as though the goblins are emerging from the face of the cliff, marching across the valley, generally larger, taller, and more numerous closer to the cliff, somewhat diminishing in size and number as they march west from the cliffs.

We just dropped into the valley and wandered. Our children, ages eight, five, and two, chased each other around goblins, following one another as they climbed and crawled around. Our youngest, one, was of course too small to wander on her own, but even she seemed to have a good time as I toted her around, laughing at the antics of her older siblings. Our two year old found a new favorite word, "jump," as he begged my husband to first put him up on top of a goblin and then catch him as he jumped off (he learned it from his older brother and sister). This is just a great spot for anyone to visit: unique enough to be interesting to any age, and really fantastic for young children, with no sudden drop-offs (at least not from the parking lot to the valley floor, which slopes rather gently for the most part), a gently rolling valley floor, mostly soft sand, and goblins ranging from one foot high to as tall as the cliffs, all inviting exploration and adventure.

We made our way across the valley to the base of the cliffs, half-emerged goblins towering above us. With more climbing, more jumping, and more red dust covering our clothes (you can’t really avoid it, just a mark of the work of wind on the rock, even as you move through the valley) we explored around the cliff for a while and then made our way back across the valley, slowly, finally reaching the car a little after 7:00 pm. After a lot of dusting off of clothes we all settled back into the car and started the trip home.

Instead of driving out via Highway 24 up to Interstate 70 we decided to drive along the dirt roads through San Rafael Swell up to Interstate 70. In the end it didn’t take any more or less time than sticking with the highway does, but it was a lot of fun. The road was really smooth, despite being dirt, and 4-wheel drive, at least in dry conditions, wouldn’t be necessary. We made it home by 11:00 pm, kids asleep in the car. It was an easy drive, aside from the late March snow storm coming through the mountains between Price and Spanish Fork along Highway 6—just one more reminder than winter is still around, even though we tried to escape it for a day down in the red rock.

FAVORITE PIECE OF GEAR:

Baby Björn infant front carrier. Not very technical, but for this kind of trip and this hike it was really the only "gear" we used. We’ve had the same one for all four babies, since the oldest (now eight) was only one. We had tried the Kelty Kangaroo carrier and an Evenflo one as well, but this has been the most comfortable, easily adjusting for growing kids and between myself (a size 4) and my husband (a XXL and tall). Plus, you just can’t beat a product that after seven years is still going strong (though a bit faded) and the kids all seem to have enjoyed.