(May 19-22)
Note: While planning this trip Maro and I looked at every National Park on or near our route. In my initial thought process, I had the idea that we were going to check off the boxes of "seeing all the National Parks." Yet, after reflecting on our trip in 2018, most of the really memorable spots were actually smaller parks. Several of them being state parks. With that in mind, two of them really stuck out during our search....Goblin Valley and Dead Horse Point. Booking these locations can be super tough, so we locked in our campsites the day they became available....
We woke up in Hanksville, just 40 minutes south of Goblin Valley. There was a killer restaurant with some good home cooking, so we took our time and splurged on a huge breakfast. All the kids crushed a stack of pancakes, and we were off.
We arrived several hours early to check in time, so we decided to heed the locals advise and take a hike through Little Wild Horse Canyon. Let me tell you----AMAZING HIKE. This canyon had a fun landscape for the kids, super cool slot canyons, colors that were out of this world, and just enough challenge to keep everyone on their toes.
The total hike took us around two hours. After hiking, we decided we hadn't had enough and drive to Goblin Valley and explore there as well.
Goblin Valley is kind of hard to explain. It is like a huge field filled with gigantic piles of dog poop looking mounds. Yet, it incredible. The kids loved it, and had the idea of playing Hide and Seek Freeze Tag through the mounds and tunnels. This was awesome, we got to experience a place not many people get to see, AND experience it as a child does.
We went back to our campsite and settled down for the evening. We awoke in the morning to three kids all begging to play Hide and Seek Freeze Tag again. Maro and I did have a great time, so we abliged. We ran around again and the then headed the 2.5 miles towards Dead Horse Point.
Arriving at Dead Horse Point, we found our campsite and promptly took a hike to look for some amazing views. Man did we find them!! We hiked straight from our campsite, down a trail marked by stacked rocks and sparse trees. The family walked over several layered rocks and walked out to a view that only experience could explain. Maro walked up, stood in silence for several seconds and said "this is more amazing than the Grand Canyon." We sat and enjoyed the beautiful views, bright with colors transformed by the setting sun.
The following day we took several more hikes around the area including Mesa Arch and Upheaval Dome. That evening we were joined by our cousin Michelle for the the rest of the trip. We chatted for awhile and then headed to bed. We woke up in the morning and checked out the main view point for the bend of Dead Horse Point. It was cloudy, raining (again) and cold. We took our photos and were off toward Moab and Arches National Park.
