Fruita, UT
Friday, September 25
Last night was a quiet, peaceful night camped under the stars without another person around us. And this morning — WOW! The sky was on fire with a bright orange sunrise glowing around us. Beautiful!
Our day started just outside Goblin Valley State Park near Green River, Utah. The forecast called for another hot day in the 90’s, so Andi and I decided to get a jump on hiking first thing this morning. We drove the RV to the trailhead of Little Wild Horse Canyon trailhead just north of the state park, parked our RV there, and ate a quick breakfast of yogurt, cereal and oatmeal. Then, the four of us hit the trail.
Tory and Aden were in such good spirits this morning; anxious to hike through their first slot canyon. Andi showed them a few pictures of the Little Wild Horse Canyon trail last night before bed. A slot canyon is a high-walled, water-carved canyon that is often just a narrow passageway to hike through. On this particular trail, there were also lots of boulders and obstacles to climb, which makes this a perfect jungle-gym for kids and adults alike.
We didn’t see another person on the trail as we hiked into the canyon. The weather was perfect — sunny, but still cool in the early morning. It wasn’t long before we were climbing around big boulders to stay on the trail. Andi wondered aloud what would happen if rocks from the tall canyons on both sides of us broke and fell down onto the trail. I told him now wasn’t the time to ponder such questions!
About a mile into our hike, the canyon narrowed and we squeezed our bodies between two walls. The kids were squealing with excitement. It felt like hiking through a maze of rocks. It was awesome!
We hiked for another mile through the slot canyon until the trail widened up again. At this point, we could either continue following the 8-mile loop, or turn back. Andi and I decided to turn back so the kids would have enough juice left in them for another hike later today.
I’m glad we started hiking when we did. We came across several groups of people on our walk back to the trailhead. We put on face masks because there wasn’t much room to stay our distance from people hiking in the narrow canyon.
I spied this rock in the dirt on our hike back to the RV which made Tory and I think of our loved ones back in Nebraska.
It was 10:00am when we finished our hike. Tory, Aden, Andi and I hopped in the RV and drove about five minutes to the Goblin Valley State Park entrance. This state park is known for its many “hoodoos” or soft sandstone that has eroded into strange shapes, somewhat resembling goblins.
Our first stop was in the state park campground to dump our RV sewer and refill our water tank. After camping in the desert without any services the past two nights, we needed a reset.
Next, Andi parked the RV near the main area of Goblin Valley. Here, park visitors can wander amongst the sandstone formations without following a marked trail. It was already 85 degrees outside and the sun was hot! We descend a set of stairs into a huge, open area filled with hundreds of sandstone formations. It felt like we were on another planet! It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
Several groups of kids were running wild between the goblins, as if it were a racetrack with places to run and hide. Aden started running all over, too, hiding amongst the sandstone formations. It was a little too hot outside for Tory so she kept cool in the shade of one of the goblins and completed her Goblin Valley State Park Junior Ranger packet.
As the four of us sat in the shade of a canyon wall overlooking this weird and wonderful geological site, Andi said, “You know what they have not too far from here? The best burgers and fries in the world.” How, we asked? We’re in the middle of the desert! Andi suggested we see for ourselves.
It was HOT outside and the four of us were starving after a morning of adventuring outdoors. Andi drove a few miles to Stan’s — a gas station / burger shack off Highway 95 near Hanksville. Stan’s is famous for its burgers, fries and shakes so Andi went inside to place our order and returned to the RV with this:
Wowzers! I think all our mouths simultaneously began to drool.
Tory proclaimed Stan’s to be the best burger she’d ever tasted — even better than Culver’s, she said. The fries were amazing, too. Andi and I packaged the shakes into Tupperware and stuck them inside the RV freezer for later. It was so much food — no way we could eat all of this at once.
Stuffed to the gills after lunch, Andi and I decided to drive the RV 30 minutes west to Capitol Reef National Park. We’ve learned this week that it’s a great time to drive to our next destination during the hottest part of the afternoon so the kids can recharge and we can have the A/C cranking.
We arrived to Capitol Reef National Park around 4:30pm and stopped to take an obligatory picture at the entrance sign. Andi and I had to laugh that this is where we’re at in this RV trip — Aden is wearing his favorite Crocs rain boots. Tory is wearing a sports bra because she’s so hot. Three weeks into our RV trip, and we’ve found our groove. Who cares what we look like?! We love this life.
We were a bit disappointed in our visit to Capitol Reef National Park. The landscape was pretty, of course, but it was nothing compared to what we’d seen at Arches National Park or even Canyonlands National Park yesterday. Maybe visiting three national parks in two days made us less appreciative?
Andi stopped at an old sandstone cabin built in the late 1800’s, and we learned about one pioneer family who tried to make a good of it on this harsh, unforgiving land. We also stopped at another observation platform to view some petroglyphs carved into the sandstone. That was neat! I’d never seen anything like that before.
The visitor’s center was closed by the time we reached it inside the park, so the kids weren’t able to collect Junior Ranger badges for this national park. Bummer. We followed the scenic drive through a section of the park which winded beside fruit orchards left behind from the early settlers in this area. We saw lots of mule deer and horses. I’m sure we could have found a nice, family-friendly hiking trail to do inside the national park, but honestly we were all hot and tired from the day. It was also getting late in the day and we still had to find a place to camp tonight.
Fortunately, there’s lots of BLM land to camp on around this part of Utah. We left Capitol Reef National Park around 6:00pm and drove about 10 miles to the west near the town of Torrey. There were several other RVs parked in this area, so we found a spot and settled in the for the night.
Tory and I painted our nails while Andi grilled halibut for dinner. We ate a really delicious meal, and then snuggled up and watched an episode of When Calls the Heart together.
What a fantastic two days we’ve had exploring southeastern Utah! We are hot, tired, dirty and happy. Tomorrow, we’re making our way north toward Park City, UT.
