Goblin Valley State Park Yurt's So Good. -

In yet another fascinating display of what time and the elements can do to the land, it would be a hunt for whimsical Jurassic-era sandstone creatures of all shapes and sizes within Goblin Valley State Park. Used in the film Galaxy Quest, the otherworldly landforms span three free-roamable square miles in 3 distinct valleys. And with Yurt accommodation for the night, the land would be mine–in the day and in the night, amidst comfortable, swamp cooler breaks as needed. With magical foreground options for the deep, dark IDA-certified sky, I was very much looking forward to the night shoot and, well, something else I had up my sleeve. But first let’s do the day… and look at the yurt.

Yurt life!

Amphitheater. They do dark sky events.

Now the Valley of Goblins. It was scorching hot out–like dangerously so. So I threw my cooling towel in the cooler‘s icy water and neckerchiefed it up. Where has this thing been all my life?! My goodness, it made all the difference. These two items are musts for fools traveling to the desert in August like me. You don’t want the heat to stop you from seeing the sights. Especially these weird goblins.

Similar to the The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Badlands I visited in New Mexico, the rock forms stir the imagination. But you best respect them. In 2013 some jerk Boy Scout group purposely toppled one of the formations while laughing it up and displaying several layers of general stupidity–the adults were subsequently removed by The Boy Scouts and were arraigned on felony charges of intentionally damaging, defacing and destroying property and criminal mischief. They received fines and a year of probation. Don’t mess with millions of years in the making, please.