Goblin Valley State Park

History

Evidence of Native American settlement and culture, including from the Fremont, Paiute, and Ute, can be seen throughout the San Rafael Swell in the form of pictograph and petroglyph panels. The secluded Goblin Valley was discovered by cowboys searching for cattle, and later by Arthur Chaffin, owner/operator of the Hite Ferry, and two companions, searching for an alternate route between Green River and Caineville during the late 1920s. They came to a vantage point about 1 mi west of the valley and were awed by what they saw – five buttes and a valley of strange, goblin-shaped rock formations surrounded by a wall of eroded cliffs. In 1949, Chaffin returned to the area he called the Valley of the Mushrooms and spent several days exploring and photographing its intricately eroded rocks.

Publicity attracted visitors to the valley despite its remoteness, and in 1954, it was proposed that Goblin Valley be protected. The state of Utah later acquired the property and established Goblin Valley State Reserve, and the region was officially designated a state park on August 24, 1964.

2013 vandalism

In October 2013, a delicately balanced hoodoo was deliberately knocked over by a Boy Scout leader while two other men watched, one of whom recorded a video that was later uploaded to the Internet. The men claimed that the hoodoo appeared ready to fall, and that it was intentionally knocked over to prevent park visitors from being hurt.

The two leaders, Glenn Taylor and David Hall, were subsequently dismissed from their leadership roles by the Utah National Parks Council and later removed from their positions altogether by the Boy Scouts of America. In January 2014, two of the menthe one who toppled the hoodoo and the cameramanwere arraigned on felony charges of "criminal mischief" and "intentionally damaging, defacing and destroying property." The two men pleaded guilty to lesser charges of criminal mischief and attempted criminal mischief, and received a sentence of one year probation plus fines and other case-related fees.

Flora and fauna

The flora of Goblin Valley include Mormon tea, Russian thistle, Indian ricegrass, and various cacti, as well as junipers and pinyon pines at higher elevations. Fauna include jackrabbits, scorpions, kangaroo rats, pronghorns, kit foxes, midget faded rattlesnakes, and coyotes.

Geology

The unique stone formations in Goblin Valley result from the weathering of Entrada sandstone. The Entrada consists of debris eroded from former highlands and redeposited on a former tidal flat of alternating layers of sandstone, siltstone, and shale. The rocks show evidence of being near the margins of an ancient sea with the ebb and flow of tides, tidal channels that directed currents back to the sea and coastal sand dunes.

Joint or fracture patterns within the Entrada sandstone beds created initial zones of weakness. The unweathered joints then intersected to form sharp edges and corners with greater surface-area-to-volume ratios than the faces. As a result, the edges and corners weathered more quickly, producing the spherical-shaped 'goblins'. The Entrada sandstone from which the hoodoos developed was deposited in the Jurassic period around 170 million years ago.

Climate

Average daytime highs in the summer average between 90 and, though the low humidity, high elevation, and sparse vegetation allow evenings to cool off rapidly to about 50 F. The area is also prone to intense summer thunderstorms, flash floods, and wildfires from summer monsoons arriving from the south. Winters have colder temperatures and occasional snow, with temperatures above freezing most days, but often dropping as low as 10 F at night. The average precipitation is less than 8 in.

In popular media

Goblin Valley was prominently featured in the movie Galaxy Quest (1999) as an alien planet. The eroded sandstone dunes in the valley inspired the design of the fictional planet’s rock monsters. Portions of other films, including John Carter and City Slickers II, have also been filmed near or inside the park.

References

References

1. Utah.com. "Goblin Valley State Park". Utah.com LC.
2. "Utah State Parks Visitation Data by Fiscal Year, 2018 Visitation". Utah State Parks.
3. ''San Rafael Desert, Utah,'' 30x60 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1986
4. ''Hanksville, Utah,'' 30x60 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1980
5. "Goblin Valley State Park".
6. DesertUSA.com. "Goblin Valley State Park, UT - DesertUSA".
7. (February 20, 2022). "Goblin Valley day: a late-explored, otherworldly erosive spectacle". St. George News.
8. (March 18, 2019). "What did Utah win in the expansive lands bill? A new Jurassic park and a bigger, and hopefully better, Goblin Valley.". The Salt Lake Tribune.
9. Grenoble, Ryan. (20 October 2013). "Boy Scout leaders topple ancient rock formation in Utah's Goblin Valley State Park (VIDEO)". [[The Huffington Post.
10. Watkins, Tom. (18 October 2013). "Created over millennia, destroyed in seconds". [[Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.]].
11. (18 October 2013). "Boy Scout leaders destroy ancient formation in Utah's Goblin Valley". [[Digital First Media]], MediaNews Group.
12. Duke, Alan. (21 October 2013). "Men who toppled ancient boulder get booted by Boy Scouts". [[Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.]].
13. (31 January 2014). "Ex-Boy Scout leaders involved in pushing over ancient Utah boulder charged". [[Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.]].
14. Ortiz, Erik. (2014-03-19). "Ex-Scouts Leaders Who Knocked Over Ancient Rock Get Probation". NBC News.
15. [https://stateparks.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Goblin-Valley-Brochure-07_17_2017_web.pdf "Goblin Valley State Park Brochure"] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20190108022809/https://stateparks.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Goblin-Valley-Brochure-07_17_2017_web.pdf archive]). ''stateparks.utah.gov''. State of Utah. July 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
16. Milligan, Mark. (1999). "The Geology of Goblin Valley State Park". Utah GeologicSurvey.
17. "Goblin Valley State Park".
18. Jackson, Gordon. (March 8, 2016). "33 Secrets You Probably Never Knew About the Making of Galaxy Quest". Gizmodo Media Group.
19. "Goblin Valley State Park".