April 30th 2012
We drove to Goblin Valley, Utah which is about 4 hours from Rifle (6.5 from Steamboat). There is a neat primitive spot in a canyon near the Wildhorse trailhead that we visited last April with some friends.
We set up the large tent (flying diamond 8) since we were staying for 5 nights. The spot is pretty secluded, although there are about 4 sites along the canyon. We had a couple camp near us the first night and then didn't see anyone else until the last night. The weather was nice for the first few days. Nice for the desert-- overcast and warm with a few welcome rain drops every now and then. The last few days were hot, unbearably sunny and windy!
There is tons to explore right from camp including hiking up the rocky protrusions on either side of the canyon. We did go on a day hike to Crack Canyon (the trailhead was about 2 miles from our camp) which was pretty cool and not too technical of a hike.
There isn't much wildlife except chipmunks, lizards, crows and mice. One guy saw a scorpion one night when he moved a rock but no others were spotted (thank goodness). We did not see any snakes either!
More friends showed up later in the week to join us. The last night a troop of boy scouts showed up to camp down the canyon. They were a rowdy bunch of 8 to 12 year old boys. Good thing we decided to backpack to camp in a small valley up on a mesa above the canyon. We had labeled the valley "the thunderdome" when we found it last year and we had been talking about camping up there all year. It was a full moon that night (the super moon) so it was perfect. We set up camp and wached the sunset from the edge of the mesa and the moon rise from the other side. We made a fire and since it was our last night we stayed up pretty late.
We woke up early, broke camp and hiked back down to our campsite in the canyon. We passed the boy scouts on our way down. We packed up camp and headed home. I decided that 4 days in the desert was about all I could handle next time. We were sandy, wind burnt and exhausted. We stopped in grand junction for some fast food and ice cream on the way home!
We drove to Goblin Valley, Utah which is about 4 hours from Rifle (6.5 from Steamboat). There is a neat primitive spot in a canyon near the Wildhorse trailhead that we visited last April with some friends.
We set up the large tent (flying diamond 8) since we were staying for 5 nights. The spot is pretty secluded, although there are about 4 sites along the canyon. We had a couple camp near us the first night and then didn't see anyone else until the last night. The weather was nice for the first few days. Nice for the desert-- overcast and warm with a few welcome rain drops every now and then. The last few days were hot, unbearably sunny and windy!
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| Our campsite |
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| Our campsite as seen from above |
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| Camp Fire |
There is tons to explore right from camp including hiking up the rocky protrusions on either side of the canyon. We did go on a day hike to Crack Canyon (the trailhead was about 2 miles from our camp) which was pretty cool and not too technical of a hike.
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| Crack Canyon |
There isn't much wildlife except chipmunks, lizards, crows and mice. One guy saw a scorpion one night when he moved a rock but no others were spotted (thank goodness). We did not see any snakes either!
More friends showed up later in the week to join us. The last night a troop of boy scouts showed up to camp down the canyon. They were a rowdy bunch of 8 to 12 year old boys. Good thing we decided to backpack to camp in a small valley up on a mesa above the canyon. We had labeled the valley "the thunderdome" when we found it last year and we had been talking about camping up there all year. It was a full moon that night (the super moon) so it was perfect. We set up camp and wached the sunset from the edge of the mesa and the moon rise from the other side. We made a fire and since it was our last night we stayed up pretty late.
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| Our Campsite the last night |
We woke up early, broke camp and hiked back down to our campsite in the canyon. We passed the boy scouts on our way down. We packed up camp and headed home. I decided that 4 days in the desert was about all I could handle next time. We were sandy, wind burnt and exhausted. We stopped in grand junction for some fast food and ice cream on the way home!
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