After work we packed up and hit the road around 4 and headed up Spanish Fork canyon towards the swell. The original plan was to drive down to the San Rafael Desert to hike Moonshine, Colonade Arch, and Horseshoe Canyon then head to Goblin Valley to our reserved campsite for some showers and time in the goblins. As we approached Green River the pounding rain and thunder made it quite clear that we would not be driving the long dirt road into the San Rafael desert this trip. We gassed up then decided to stick on the pavement and head to goblin valley. As we drove down highway 24 all the washes along the road were full of running water. Straight wash (or Eardley Canyon) was running much higher than the San Rafael river.

The rain let up a bit as we approached temple junction so we decided to leave the pavement and try our luck at one of our favorite “go to” sites near temple mountain. The roads were very slick and muddy and as we came around the first bend we saw a wet, cold couple waving their arms at us. We pulled up next to them and they told us their story of a short day hike that turned into an epic experience. They had parked in a wash and started day hiking before the storm hit. After the flood waters went down they made it back to their car to find it it completely destroyed along with all of their expensive camera gear. We made room for them in the cars and drove them to the Goblin Valley visitors center where they waited for a Sheriff to give them a ride back into town. We got their email addess and wished them well then we set out to find a campsite before dark. We drove down the little wild horse road to find a campsite. When we came to the crack/chute canyon drainage it was flowing like a large river.

We settled on one of the sites just outside goblin at the base of the Entrada Cliffs. It was a muddy, muddy mess and continued to rain for most of the night.

The morning after we left our tents up so they could dry out and we headed north to check out a few canyons. Because all the slots would have standing water we opted to hiked the wider wild horse creek and visit the wild horse window. The water was flowing in Wild Horse and Bowen (4yo) got completely soaked after falling into some quick sand and a deep pothole. I ran back to the car to get him changed while April, Whit, and Lanik hiked up and down Wild Horse Canyon. After our hike it was off to Goblin Valley, we followed the kids around for a few hours and just let them have some fun and run around the goblins.

We checked into our campsite that we reserved a week prior then ended up switching it for an open walk-in site that I found more photogenic for my star trails. Whit and I ran back to our camp from the previous night and loaded up our tents in the back of the truck and moved them to our new site in Goblin.

It was a pretty lazy day for us. We watched the kids run around the goblins in our camp then followed it up with a sunset hike in goblin valley. That night I set up and shot a few star trails from within our campsite, the goblins made for great foregrounds.

Again not much hiking on this trip but my wife is pretty awesome to have the desire to go camping when she’s 8months pregnant.

Nick on the ice in Uneva Canyon

My favorite spot for views along the San Rafael Reef.

After our short hike up Uneva we drove south to find a campsite near Goblin Valley where there was very little snow on the ground. I set up my tent then we drove over to the Little Wild Horse Canyon trail head. We hiked up to the end of the narrows and back and did not encounter any snow or ice within the canyon and only 2 small groups of hikers.

Selfies

Nick and Nikita taking a break in the sun.

For sunset we headed out to Goblin Valley. There was a bit of snow in the Goblins but the ground was dry so we were able to climb on top of the Morison formation to walk around and enjoy the views.

Once the sun went down it got pretty cold but luckily we had plenty of firewood. The clouds were too thick for star trails so we rotated between the fire and the cameras shooting long exposures and doing some light painting.

The next morning we were up early for sunrise. I took a few shots, made some breakfast, packed up camp, and then we drove over to Crack Canyon. There was 5 inches of snow covering the ground all along the behind the reef road but as soon as we reached the subway section in Crack Canon the ground was bare. We hiked down the canyon to the first dry fall and back before calling it good and driving home.