Carl’s Critter Garden in Hanksville, Utah. We love junk art and Carl provided a surprising rest stop on our way to see the goblins.

It was time for a road trip to Mars. The Goblin Valley State Park, located in the desolate San Rafael Swell, was nearly 70 miles away from our campsite. The Swell is considered to look a lot like the landscape of Mars. In fact, the non-profit scientific Mars Society has a Mars research station in the area near Hanksville, Utah. It consists of a two story cylindrical habitat where up to 8 would-be astronauts simulate living on Mars. The landscape looked genuine Martian to me.

The people of Hanksville must be a bit “off”, which is a good thing. Not only do they have a Martian habitat, they also have Carl’s Critter Garden. Carl put together a whole bunch of fun and imaginative junk art to display in a garden-like walkway. I had to stop.

Right smack in the middle of this foreboding land is Goblin Valley, a park that features a large valley packed with oddly shaped hoodoos. People are allowed to just roam the acres and acres of the goblin populated valley. We had a blast seeking out the hoodoos that looked like animals or caricatures of people - the fancy word for a natural formation resembling an entity is “pareidolis”. Surrounding the valley are walls of tall hoodoos with shallow caves that offered cool respite from the hot sun. It reached 95º around 3 pm.

Pareidolis - what characters or animals do you see in these natural forming hoodoos? Let your imagination run!

When it hit 90º we cooled off in these caves.

I had read about the terrific 8-mile Little Wild Horse Canyon Trail loop near Goblin Valley State Park. We drove to the trailhead. The 95º energy-sucking sun put the brakes on doing the whole 8 miles, but I was determined to hike at least one section of the canyon because it was supposed to be a true slot canyon.

I consulted with a hiker that just completed the loop. She pointed out on a map where the slot begins. This was a mere half mile from the trailhead. I had to go - no choice pal. It was worth it. This wasn’t just a canyon, or the narrows, it was a genuine, squeeze through sideways, you’d better be skinny slot canyon. I loved every inch of it. Wow, yet another great day in an endless chain of great days.

The drive to Little Wild Horse Canyon Trail.

The Little Wild Horse Canyon Trailhead. It doesn’t look too promising right at the start, but it does get better.

Entering the canyon.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum.

Dave and Wanda

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