Meeting the Goblins

 

After a long day driving along spectacular Highway 12 and exploring Capitol Reef in the afternoon, we spent the night in a tiny cabin in Hanksville. Hanksville is not more than a hamlet where literally nothing is open between Christmas and New Year's. The only place to eat was a less than mediocre burger place, but since we didn't have anything warm the entire day we didn't have a choice. The coffee place in the morning was closed as well, so we just had a couple nut and granola bars. A great breakfast, not. 

So we were off to our next adventure. The weather had changed, it was grey, cold and the clouds were low. That actually gave the landscape a mysterious look. 

Eventually the fog became rather dense. I was driving very slowly because everything looked greyish-white - and suddenly this cow appeared out of the fog. Thank goodness I wasn't driving fast!

Our destination was Goblin Valley State Park. We had discovered this gem sometime in the 2010s during one of our many Southwest trips and really liked it back then. The Geek and I were eager to visit again. The state Park is pretty much in the middle of nowhere off Utah State Highway 24 south of I-70. It is easy to pass by - you still have to drive several miles from Highway 24 to the valley - but a stop is very worthwhile. It's a place where your imagination can go wild.

This is a three-square-mile area covered in hoodoos that display the oddest shapes.

As so much in the American Southwest it is a very arid area - not much was growing here. There was some snow and it was seriously cold. However, we bundled up and walked right into the valley and among the goblins. 

If you want to study geologic history, Goblin Valley is a good place to go to. Due to the uneven hardness of sandstone, some patches resist erosion much better than others. Water erosion and windblown dust result in the odd and strange shapes of the "goblins". 

The soil is thin and almost completely lacks vegetation. When rain does fall, there are few plant roots and little soil to capture and hold water.

I did find a very few, very dry plants, however.

But the goblins were the reason why we came here after all. They are undeniably the true stars in this valley.

When you use your imagination you can see a lot of interesting shapes and figures. 

Gnomes...

... a dog, maybe?

Definitely a bird, an angry bird. At least not a happy one.

G-rated kissers were quite abundant.

We walked through more narrow pathways deeper into the valley - there seems to be something different behind each and every goblin.

And then we found the hippo. Actually an entire herd of hippos.

The guy with the floppy ear looked like Kaefer's stuffed hippo, so we had to take a picture of ourselves with the hippo in the background and send it to her.

After almost two hours of exploring we were so cold that we walked back to the car. We wanted to reach Moab by night, but first had to stop at a garage in Green River to get our tire fixed, that was constantly losing air (of course my nifty husband had a measurement and a pump in the trunk, he's a German engineer!- and he had to use them repeatedly on this trip).

The sun finally made an appearance when we were leaving.

The Three Sisters

So, what do you think? Do these goblins count as faces for Nicole's Friday Face Off? Otherwise, there are still two human faces in the mix.

Have a wonderful weekend!