Goblin Valley State Park, Utah

17 Sept, 2017;  Goblin Valley State Park Campground

No room at the inn (or the campground) . . . or so I was led to believe!

I had been checking online for availability at Goblin Valley but was sad to see it fully booked until about mid-October.  Nevertheless, I thought I’d wander down that way, pay the day use fee to see/hike Goblin Valley and then try to find some boondocking on public land (All-stays app and free campsites app both showed some free places) – although it might be tough to find something that didn’t require a high axle 4wd to get into the area.

Goblin Valley is only about 50 miles from my last stay in Green River, so I got to the park in plenty of time to do some hiking.  When I went into pay my day use fee, I started out with “I know you don’t have any camping available but . . . “ – but the very young ranger interrupted me with “But, we’ve just had someone leave 3 days early, would you like their spot?”  Yee-Ha!!  Of course, I wanted that spot – sight unseen, just sign me up!!  So, I snagged a huge, perfectly level site with a covered picnic table with sun/wind shades on 2 sides, and a fire pit!  And my view is spectacular!  Even better, it’s apparently a first-come; first serve site so I can have it for up to 14 days (I’m confused by this because the website mentioned nothing about walk-up sites) – but I’m not going to argue with this stroke of luck.

 Note: This place is fantastic so this and probably the next few posts will be heavily sprinkled with !!!!!

 Campground Overview

Some sites are tent-only, there are a fair number of pull-in site, and the rest are large, very level sites that will accommodate the biggest rigs.  There are several yurts nestled at the base of the mountain.  They have a dump, garbage, potable water, bathrooms and free showers.  It’s a lovely campground with a beautiful view.  There are several hikes and 7 miles of mountain biking trails with trailheads near the campground, a disc golf course; the Goblin Valley observation/picnic area is only about 1.5 miles away.

There is however, no cell service at all.  You have to drive about 10 miles out to highway 24 to get any reliable signal (sometimes I was getting 1 or 2 bars of 1x Verizon from the Goblin Valley Observation Area – not really enough to get anything done.