Goblin Valley

Last Thursday afternoon with a truck bed full of coolers and firewood; a small rented U-Haul full of tents, sleeping bags, camping chairs and suitcases; eleven of us packed into two vehicles, and one of us packed into a cousin's vehicle (our van wasn't running properly and it's always a bit of a shock to realize that, without it, we need three cars to transport all of us), we set off for Goblin Valley.

(This little craggy place for exploring was directly behind our campsite.)

(No trouble finding places to sit if camping chairs were occupied.)

(Ruby taught Penny to crochet.)

(The photo below is from the start of Little Wild Horse slot canyon hike.)

We'd made the reservation months earlier. (And by we, I mean Mike of course. I would never, of my own accord, determine to take all twelve of us camping). At the time of making reservations the weather was cold, and there was every reason to believe that, in early June, we might get a stroke of good luck and end up with highs in Goblin Valley only around 80 degrees. That wasn't an impossibility. In fact, the souls who would reserve campsites for the week following our stay would actually have days in the 70s! But, as the time for our own camping adventure drew near, the weather report grew alarming. 102 was in the forecast every day we would be there. And, as you will see from the proceeding pictures, Goblin Valley offers many things, but shade is not one of those things.

(Several of Mike's siblings bravely camped with us. Not all of them were in the above picture.)

(At one point Starling said woefully to me, "Mom, everything's hot.")

So, with the weather predictions holding firm, I just ... began cleaning the house and packing the kids (and occasionally whimpering to Mike that I didn't think I could ever go camping with our large family again) and tried not to consider or think about the impending heat at all.

(The slotted parts of Little Wild Horse were very cool. But I admit that, for one section, I felt a bit of that old claustrophobic panic squeezing my chest. When Mike and I turned around with our littlest kids [leaving the rest of our group to hike as far as they fancied], a large group was coming up the skinniest slot just as we were heading down. Luckily they just all climbed up kind of like Abe in the picture above and we just went under them!)

When we arrived at the campsite on Thursday, the sun was just heading past the hills and cliffs near our campsite, and the long shadow they cast made the heat bearable. The kids scampered about on the twisting trail and high rocks around our campsite, and it seemed a perfect time. Still, not a one of us slept in our sleeping bags. The hike the next morning was hot, but we'd mentally geared up for it and it seemed fine as well. But the stretch in the middle of the day was ... pretty unbearable. Mike lead a few brave souls off to look for The Goblin's Lair and to play in the valley, but they came back red and dripping in sweat. Mostly we just waited out the heat in the small squares of shade cast by the camp bowerys.

 

Luckily, around 6:00 the sun moved behind the hills next to our campsite again, and new life was breathed into us. The kids hauled buckets of water and filled noodle spray guns (that my sister-in-law cleverly thought to bring), we made s'mores without a campfire (because nobody wanted a fire! and because the marshmallows were melted enough without a fire to squish onto your graham crackers), and we all went over to play around all the goblins in the valley in the evening shade and with a bit of a breeze. Some of the group went back to the cool cave that Mike has showed me there before, and there was lots of running and climbing, and coming back to camp to sit and laugh around Mike's lantern, and thus the trip ended on a high note. (Well, unless you count all the packing up in the heat the next morning as the ending. I guess that isn't completely a "high note". Though there was so much helpfulness from everyone that it still kind of was.)

It was a lot of work. Before, during and after. But I was quite surprised by what great sports the kids were. Even in the hottest parts of the day, Summer and Mette were insisting that they didn't want to ever leave. There was very little grumbling and complaining. And all the kids kept asking when we could go back. (Sometime, kids. Sometime. Just not in the summer. ...) I was truly rather surprised and very proud of all of them. Maybe proud enough to take them all camping again someday. In a few years. ...

(Everyone drank so much water. I don't feel like there was ever a stretch of ten minutes that passed without drinking water!)

(Most of these pictures are from the valley, but the above two pictures were more of the shots from right behind our campsite.)

(Anders' wet shoes were giving him blisters, so he just wore bare feet in the valley. Everything is so smooth that it wasn't a problem.)

(Mike bought all of our kids sunhats before the campout--which they were grateful for and wore most of the time.)

(Hans on the Titanic. :))

(Poor, hot Starling holding her little, special rocks she'd collected.)

(More of the sunhats.)

(Some of the brave, mid-day, valley explorers.)

(Oh hey, it's me. I was there.)

(Mike's brother took the picture below. He had biked up a trail and this is looking down into the campground. As you can see it is quite sparse and not a lot of privacy between campsites. But that's not so bad when the adjoining campsites are full of cousins, and when the cliffs directly behind are so good for climbing and exploring. It was also nice that Mike's brother brought a bike that several people--including Abe--borrowed to try out trails down there.)

The end.