Top 5 Things to Do with Kids in Goblin Valley?

[accadacca]

What is your top 5?

I am taking my kids (10, 7, 5) there in early May to camp for 3 days. What would you suggest? I will start searching bogley of course, but if you have ideas that would be great. What about camping? I'd rather not camp with all the minions, but a few neighbors is okay.



I plan to hike little wild horse and ding/dang canyons.
Play around in the goblin areas. Any specific hikes in there?
Find some rock art....where?
I might have to bring some motorcycles to fill the rest of the time...
Drive out to something cool...I'll have a 4X4.

[Scott P]

Sounds like you already have some good ideas.

Bell/Little Wildhorse will be great and Ding/Dang will be fun. Also Wildhorse Window and Wildhorse Creek.

Farnsworth Canyon will be fun for the kids since you have high clearance vehicle to get to the trailhead.

Chamber of the Basilisk is good in Goblin Valley. Besides that, the best idea is to not have a destination, but to wander around.

Plenty of rock art is north of Goblin Valley. The pictographs in South Temple Wash will be really easy to find. Other nearby locations are in lower Ernie Canyon near where it joins Iron Wash, Eardley Canyon and (closer) Old Woman Wash.

Temple Mountain is interesting too. Crack Canyon is OK, but not nearly as good as say Little Wildhorse.

[pigburner]

In Goblin Valley, head east from the parking lot viewpoint to the far side of the valley and head towards what might be described as a greenish dome; what looks like a wall of rock from the viewpoint is actually a maze of paths and trails ripe for exploration, which my daughter and I found much more interesting than the main valley. Wildhorse Window is a fun slickrock walk, and there is a cool little pictograph panel a little ways up Wildhorse Canyon (not obvious to find unless you have good directions). If your kids are hikers, the Horseshoe Canyon unit of Canyonlands NP is a pretty easy (and pretty) 6 mi RT hike to several large and famous pictograph panels. If you go out that way, I camped once with my daughter at the end of Keg Springs Road, which takes you out in the middle of nowhere almost to the edge of the Green River canyon. Great views and slickrock wandering and isolation even if you don't camp there. One more short hike that I really like south of Hanksville is Leprechaun slot from the bottom up. A short hike gets you into the really pretty and narrow slot, nothing technical, and a lot of slickrock to explore in the area. I believe there is primitive camping in the area there. Sorry this is all one paragraph, return key isn't working for some reason.

[Sandstone Addiction]

If you like geocaching, one of the best caches anywhere is just a few miles from Goblin Valley. It's called Fat Man's Misery and it's over by Temple Mountain. My kids loved looking for this one.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GCFE7E

[phatch]

My kids, 11-15 thought the Grand Gallery hike was a bit of slog with all the sand and loose footing. Generally considered moderate, not easy as a hike in my reading. A couple of dino footprints towards the high parts of the trailhead. The print further up the canyon from the Grand Gallery has been covered up for a number of years now.

Still a great hike with a good payoff. But I'd say your kids are probably too young unless they're great hikers and love it.

In goblin valley, have a battle with the pressurized squirt guns. great location for that sort of thing.

[Scott P]

The print further up the canyon from the Grand Gallery has been covered up for a number of years now.

Just curious. How is it covered up? By the NPS? Haven't been since April 1998.

[phatch]

sand, gravel from floods.

[Scott P]

sand, gravel from floods.

Never mind. I read it fast and thought you were talking about the pictograph panel up canyon from the Great Gallery. The dino tracks in Horseshoe have been covered for many years now.

[accadacca]

Thanks for all the ideas! :2thumbs: