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Valley of the Goblins and Little Wild Horse Canyon

  Last weekend we visited the Goblin Valley area with our son's family with the goals of doing some hikes in the area. After many years of roughing it, I decided that camping without a flush toilet was no longer acceptable so we decided to rent a trailer in Payson. Our son's family already had a pop-up trailer which they brought.

Here's what we learned about renting trailers:

1.  I loved the flush toilet and private bathroom.

2.  I loved the heater when it was cold outside.

3.  I loved everyone having a bed.

4.  I didn't love the bad gas mileage we got hauling a trailer. Our big van got about 8-9 mpg hauling the trailer.  And our van had much less power with a trailer behind it. The moral is don't travel very far with a trailer.

The trip was good! We arrived on Thursday night and got all set up. We had initially thought we would find a spot next to the cliffs but ended up going to the Temple Hill campground which has a few improvements since the last time we were there. 

On Friday morning, we set out to hike Little Wild Horse Canyon and Bell's Canyon which are slot canyons. It's an 8-mile loop through but we thought it was only 6 miles. When we got to a sign at the halfway point and realized our mistake, it was pretty demoralizing. But we slogged through! And now my little 6-year-old grandson and 8-year-old granddaughter can say they've been on an 8-mile hike. The baby and the 3-year-old struggled somewhat, but survived with lots of help. Fortunately we had enough snacks and water thanks to Stephanie's good preparation. Camille didn't go at all--she stayed in the trailer because she had a pretty bad cold and needed to rest. That wouldn't have happened if we hadn't had the trailer.


















After we got back, we took some naps and hung out at the campsite.


That night we enjoyed talking and making s'mores around the campfire. That's one of my favorite parts of camping. Scott told a "ghost story" about a date we went on a long time ago. He said in a shocked voice, "And we went to a Chinese restaurant!" Felix said, "Actually, that's not bad."



The next morning, I stayed with all the kids at the campsite while Scott, David, and Stephanie hiked Ding and Dang canyons, a 6-mile loop. These are more technical canyons and included the possibility of having to wade through waist-deep water. They managed to avoid getting wet but they did use a rope they took with them, plus lots of scaling. Sadly, they didn't take a camera so they got no pictures. They also did it super fast. They told me they would be back in 4 hours including a total driving time of 40 minutes. They almost made it--4.5 hours. The baby wasn't that cheerful while they were gone but we survived. The adults were all really happy to have accomplished that goal so I was happy I could help them do it.




After some lunch and a few games, we packed up and went home. David and Stephanie took their kids to Goblin Valley on the way.




It was a good trip and I'm glad we could make some memories!









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