Day Trip to Goblin Valley State Park Utah

Looking for more Day Trips from Grand Junction? Consider Goblin Valley State Park in Utah. It’s about 2.25 hours west of Grand Junction. I published a post called Day Trips from Grand Junction CO that has more ideas. You can read it next if you haven’t read it already. I’ll be posting more day trips in the future too!

We like taking day trips from Grand Junction and we did this one on a Saturday in May. It was about 85 degrees and sunny. A great time of the year to hike and be outdoors.

What to know about Goblin Valley State Park in Utah before you go

GETTING IN AND PARKING

The park is small, and it gets busy. They don’t offer official timed entry management, so you can’t reserve an entrance time in advance. We arrived on a Saturday at about 9:30am and waited in line behind 2-3 cars to get in. We went right to the Valley of the Goblins parking lot and there were about 5 spots left. The park entrance waiting line started to build by 10am and cars were told to wait. They would be let in after current visitors left. The line was long. We ran into a couple on a hike later. They waited in line for an hour before giving up and choosing a hike outside of the state park and come back later in the day.

PARKING PASS

They want you to get the pass online ahead of your visit to speed things up when you enter. When you do, the pass is good for that day and until 10pm the following day. We bought ours the night before we left. If you wait to do it online when you get to the area, you may not have internet service, we didn’t.

RESEARCH THE AREA

Since the park is relatively small, I recommend you research other attractions in the San Rafael Swell area before you go. There is a lot to see in this beautiful area of Utah. Goblin Valley State Park info.

Goblin Valley State Park Experience

We planned for just one day in this beautiful and unique area. Once we got the park map, we went straight to the Valley of the Goblins and parked there by the big pavilion. The parking lot overlooks the Goblins. We walked down several flights of stairs to get down and walk around among them. That was very cool. An open area to roam. After about 30 minutes of that, we headed out and stopped at the entrance because that’s where the Gift Shop is but it was closed. I think they were short staffed because the gift shop was open when we entered.

 

Little Wild Horse Canyon – Our first slot canyon experience

This hike was very impressive! According to All Trails map app, the loop trail is 8.1 miles through two canyons. We knew we couldn’t do the full 8 miles, it would be too much for us. So, we chose the Little Wild Horse Canyon side of the loop. It starts out wide then narrows, the smallest section was about 5 inches at the ground and about shoulder width at your shoulders. Sometimes we turned sideways to continue.

There were a few spots to “scramble” or climb over large rocks—nothing too strenuous for us beginners. It was our plan to stop and turn around when we reached the 6–8 ft “dryfall” because we didn’t feel we could climb back up once we went down. However, we ended up turning around earlier due to the crowd and difficulty passing people in such a narrow space. We went about 1.3 miles on the trail before turning back and thought it was fantastic for our first time in a slot canyon. The beauty was truly amazing. Keep in mind, this canyon can experience a flash flood if there has been rain upstream, so be aware.

Temple Mountain Wash Pictograph Panel

Just off the side of the road we saw some of the largest prehistoric painted figures in Utah. The sign near the panel in the San Rafael Swell explains that the featured pictographs were created by early inhabitants during the Archaic Period (8000 to 2000 BC) and later by the Fremont culture (300 to 1300 AD). It’s amazing that they are still around for us to see! Pictographs are wall paintings done with pigments; petroglyphs are wall carvings, both are commonly called rock art. We are just learning the difference too!

After this, we pulled into one of the campgrounds nearby and had a picnic lunch under the shade of a tree. There are no services in the immediate area for food, so we packed a cooler with snacks for lunch.

Wild Horse Window

The last short hike was the Wild Horse Window. Technically it’s accessed from within Goblin Valley State Park boundaries, near the main entrance sign, but the trailhead was hard to find. Our GPS wasn’t working because we had no internet connection, but we finally found it after wandering back behind a camping area. I’m glad we persisted because it was amazing! We met a very nice couple from Denver who was just starting the hike when we were, so we hiked together. What a great time chatting and wayfinding with them on the trail. There were only two other couples in the 2 or so hours we were there!

Time to consult AllTrails

The AllTrails app says it’s 1.8 miles out-and-back but our trip was 2.3 miles. The app said it takes 51 minutes on average; it took us 1.5 hours. It was sandy, rocky or you were walking on slanted slickrock. Thankful for our supportive hiking books as it was rough on the ankles. It wasn’t technical, just had to watch your step. Hiking poles would have made it easier, but we don’t have those yet. Elevation gain was about 384 ft. Uphill there, downhill back. I was thankful there were many cairns to follow, especially over the slick rock because you didn’t have footprints to follow and couldn’t exactly tell where to go. Cairns (pronounced Karens) are stacks of rocks used for marking trails.

The end of the trail offered a spectacular view: two natural bridges formed by wind and erosion. One featured a hole at the top, probably about 50’ wide and 50’ tall, with moss growing in a few spots. More pictographs could be seen in the “cave,” and the cool shade was a welcome relief. After a snack, the scenery was fully absorbed before the hike back to the truck. Doing this hike second proved challenging, as the 2.3 miles felt much more strenuous than the first 2.6 miles in the slot canyon. Listed as “moderately challenging,” it certainly lived up to that rating.

One Final Stop for Dinner in Green River, Utah

After hiking in this beautiful San Rafael Reef area, the next city on our way back was Green River, so we stopped there for dinner. A lot of the restaurants and businesses in Green River are boarded up. They must be struggling as a small rural community. We found Tamarisk Restaurant overlooking the Green River. They have been in business since 1979, and I know why. The food and service were outstanding! We got there around 5-6pm, before the dinner rush. There were 20 people in the waiting area when we left. I highly recommend this place to eat. We didn’t find many other cafes or restaurants, but there was a sub shop. After a long day of hiking and being outdoors, we just wanted a cool place out of the sun to dine and relax a bit before the 90-minute drive home. We loved it.

I love that we can do Day Trips from Grand Junction like this. We left about 7:30am and were home about 8pm to sleep in our own bed. There are so many amazing places to see within 2 hours of Grand Junction, in all directions!

If you are considering living in Grand Junction, moving here from another state, please reach out to me. I’d be happy to show you around when you come to town to “check it out”.

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