Goblin Valley

A few weeks ago I tagged along with my parents and little brothers and sisters on an adventure to Goblin Valley. I've been fascinated and a bit afraid of Goblin Valley ever since I was 5 when I first saw pictures of Goblin Valley in a magazine (the friend.) We weren't living in Utah at the time so I had to wait till I was 18 to finally pay a visit to the goblins.

My first visit was enchanting. The hoodoo's rise from the valley floor in the most imaginative shapes. You can wander around four hours weaving your way in and out, exploring crevasses and canyons and searching for any sign of life.

The story is that a cowboy found the Goblins was back in the early 1900'ds when he went searching for a lost a cow. He found much more than a cow that day when he stumbled upon a valley unique to anywhere else on the planet. The word got out and soon all kinds of visitor started making the trek to the middle of no where Utah to search for Goblins. The state saw the need to protect the goblins and in 1964 they made Goblin Valley a state park.

Now comes the real issue: Do the goblins ever eat people? Do the goblins really come alive at night? Are you lucky to come out of Goblin Valley alive? I've heard these urban legends and never really believed them until last time I visited when we saw a goblin appear.

It was a warm summer night. We were establishing boundaries for our favorite Goblin Valley game sardines and waiting for the sun to set when we saw IT.

At first we only saw it's eyes creeping out of the rock.
Then more eyes appeared. . .

and still more eyes...



Then we saw the most terrifying creature of all time...


Unfortunately we were only able to capture this picture of it's Shadow but believe me I haven't been so scared since Spencer made me watch that zombie movie. This goblin would strike fear into the heart of M. Night Shayamalan himself. We were lucky to get out alive!

If you have the courage to seek out goblins here are some tips for visiting Goblin Valley but remember: be careful as the sun sets!