GOBLIN VALLEY STATE PARK (Day 24 - part 4)

I headed back down and followed another path that wrapped around the cliff into the next cleft.

These look promising.

Not the easiest of trails!!

Again, there wasn't an obvious trail... but I did see a cave! It looked promising! I clambered up to it. It turned out it was quite small and I just couldn't believe they would have had a sign sending tourists all the way to this.

Hardly the lair of a goblin!

A faint trail continued to work its way to the following clefts. It was tempting but I turned back to the first cleft instead, determined to give it one more try. This time I climbed the last few feet of the wash all the way to the top. Again, a cave entrance wasn't obvious... until I happened to peek behind a very large rock. I had found it!!

Heading back down

Does this look like a cave??...

... And yet it was!

At first I couldn't see a way off the ledge down to the cave floor. It was about a 10 foot drop and I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to climb back out alone. But then I discovered a way down on the far right.

The cave was cool and very quiet. No wind! Although at far end of the cave, I could hear the wind race overhead through the four ceiling openings. It sounded like it was getting much much worse, so I decided not to stay too long since I was still going to have to deal with it going back.

Looking toward the back of the cave

At the far end of the cave looking back toward the entrance

Apparently it is popular to repel down into the cave through these holes in the ceiling.

The way out... these rocks don't look that big without a person for scale, but it was easily a good 10 feet to the top of the first set of rocks.

It was indeed extremely windy on my walk back. Not only was it blowing constantly, there were also such hard gusts that I actually had to stop moving and keep both my feet firmly on the ground to prevent from being knocked over. The sand was pelting! Dark clouds had started to move in as well.

I would have liked to set up my tent upon returning to the campground, but it simply would have been impossible. I ended up living in my car for a couple hours... eating, downloading photos, tying up notes, etc... while I watched the wind ravage the tents that had already been set up in neighboring spots. It seemed there was a good chance I'd be spending the entire night in here!

A gust of wind and sand hits this tent...

... and destroys it. Eventually these people came back, packed it up and simply left.

I snuck out briefly for a shower but was a bit disappointed. While the water was hot, it was only a tiny stream.

I was sooooo looking forward to this...

... but got this.

Classy!

This strange looking creature is a Sun Spider. While it is in the spider family, it is not technically a spider. It belongs to a group called solifuges (or camel spiders) and is more closely related to scorpions than to spiders (although they lack the scorpion tail). They prefer dry, desert climates and feed on ground-dwelling bugs and other small animals (including snakes, small lizards and even rodents). In spite of what it's name may suggest, it is actually derived from the Latin meaning "those that flee from the sun".

Around 6 pm, rain was added to the mix but fortunately for not too long. Around 7:30, the boy scouts returned. It turns out they're my neighbors for the evening. They had tarps to help block the wind and invited me over for a dinner of tacos and peach cobbler. We all socialized until it was almost dark. I then noticed the wind had died down (relatively) so I bid them a fine evening and rushed to set up my tent in the dim final rays of light.

return • continue