Goblin Valley with Boy Scouts - Apr 27-28

barl0w

barl0w

I slay white dragons, adventure, and take photos
Joined
Jan 20, 2012
Messages
163
Hello everyone!

I'm headed to Goblin Valley with the local Boy Scouts for a 1-nighter, and would like to get your thoughts on (1) places for the group to see/experience as a day hike (2) things that I shouldn't miss shooting (with my camera) (3) advice on a location to camp Friday night, and (4) anything else in general. We will have around 15 young men and 5 leaders.

The plan is:

Depart to Goblin Valley: Leave after school on Friday, setup camp, and eat dinner. Play lazer tag or capture the flag, then have a campfire / smores or some dessert / devotional and sleep.

On Saturday: Eat breakfast, clean-up, pack, and do 1 hike that will challenge the group. No restrictions on difficulty, but we will want the experience to positive, to be approved (no hard-core rappelling/climbing this time) and to be at the cars to head back latest at 3 pm.

The official park sites have all been reserved, but I've been told that there is primitive camping nearby. For a group this size, do you have any recommendations on a location that we should really try to get?

We've also talked about staying near/in Wild Horse Canyon and then driving back to Goblin - is this feasible, and would there be any advantage? Or perhaps doing the opposite?

Quite selfishly, I would like to take photos - sunset (if we make it in time) shots, star trail shots, a sunrise shot. What location(s) do you recommend I check out?

This is my first time going there, and I'm quite excited!

TIA -

Scott
 
I think your best bet will be along the road to LWHC where there are some nice mini goblin spots at the base of the entrada.cliffs These sites are by no means secret so try to get there early. Over the last 10 years or the Goblin Valley area has been "discovered" and sees an insane amount of traffic... on a recent trip we counted 90+ cars at the LWHC trail head. I have a few spots that I like to camp but I'm not those out for a scout trip (and those spots are way too small for 20people).

Lots of great hikes in the area, I highly suggest the Ding Dang loop but that may depend on the strength of your group. No rope required but a 20' hand line would be useful for the half dozen dry falls that range from 7-12'. I prefer to go up Dang and down Ding while most sites recommend going the opposite direction. Dang is more likely to hold water and contains most of the obstacles that could potentially stop you.

This spot is here 38.574374,-110.765707

Winter Camp by Summit42, on Flickr

This spot is here 38.575061,-110.732278

Muddy Camp by Summit42, on Flickr

My wife bypassing the 15' dryfall in Dang

Swell-10-18-2008 (93) by Summit42, on Flickr
 
I'd echo Summit: Ding/Dang loop would be good for the boy scouts. I have personally never done Dang, but from everything I've heard the big dry fall can be bypassed or for a little adventure for some of the older kids, do the hand-line thing.

Camping for that group could be done in the spots that Summit suggested, but you could also try driving into the main road through Temple wash and hopefully find some sites through out there (38.659820, -110.669113). Like Summit said, the place packs up quickly so you should plan on doing a little searching while you're there.
 
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