(Another “Lost Episode” from October, 2017…)
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Names are important!
No one knows what the prehistoric Native Americans called the remote valley in Utah with its concentration of oddly shaped rock features, but we know they visited. The evidence is found in petroglyphs and pictographs hidden on boulders and cliff faces.
Cowboys seeking lost cattle wandered the valley but if they named it, there is no record. In the 1920s, three explorers came to a viewpoint and gazed in awe at the magical landscape. One of them dubbed it “Mushroom Valley.”
Apparently Mushroom Valley was not a name that inspired a lot of interest from the outside world, but by the 1950s enough people had viewed the wonders of the area that the Utah state legislature purchased the land and in 1964 opened it to the public as Goblin Valley State Park.
The name change drew increased public attention, but Goblin Valley’s remote location and the several miles of unpaved rustic access road kept the numbers of visitors fairly low. Even by 2003 the park averaged just 186 visitors per day. It was one of those places that would come up in conversations among people who love the natural areas of the Southwest… people seeking the special places would ask “Have you ever been out to Goblin Valley? It’s a special place!”
A young friend of the Idiots, Poppy, was on an extended wander in the early 1990s and returned with vivid descriptions and fond memories of the goblins. They put it on their list but the unpaved access road wasn’t really suitable to RV travel.
Change came from an unexpected direction. In 1999, key scenes from the comic science fiction movie Galaxy Quest were filmed in Goblin Valley. In recent years, Utah used some of the proceeds from the movie company to improve the access road and it is now completely paved. In April, 2017, the park averaged more than 1,500 visitors a day. Utah is promoting it as a family destination – they’ve even installed a Disk Golf course that winds amongst rock formations and up the trails to the cliff top.
People call them goblins… and mushrooms… but the “correct” name for the striking rock figures is “Hoodoos.” Hoodoos are formed when softer layers of rock erode but are protected by a harder rock layer above. Hoodoos range in height from 5 to 150 tall – and some of the tallest anywhere are found in Goblin Valley.
The Idiots spent two days and one night there. The weather changed rapidly from sun to violent rainstorms and back to stunning blue skies. Arid desert became turbulent flood plain, then returned to sand and slickrock. The photos give just a hint of the beauty of the play of light and shadows across the landscape.
Yup… disk (“Frisbee”) golf!
The Beast has been some interesting spots…
and the ravens find the Idiots wherever they go. Ravens are amazing animals. They cooperate… they guard their children… they use “tools”… they do silly things just for play… The Idiots observed one pair grooming each other for half an hour.
A glorious morning for a selfie…
And a glorious morning for a bike ride. Idiot He is the proud owner of an IZip Zuma electric bike. With the motor assist He cruised the park roads and climbed to the cliff-top on a trail. He struck a sober pose for the photo, but his expression for most of the ride was a pig-in-*bleep* grin!
Finding Beauty in light and rock and air and a full moon
