Capitol Reef and Goblins

On Saturday, I drove to Capitol Reef and spent some time there. Most of the interesting stuff is located on dirt roads that are recommended only for 4 wheel drive or vehicles with high clearance. My truck isn’t 4x4, but it does have high clearance. I still didn’t go down any dirt roads. Too messy!

Right off the freeway seems to be part of the fold. If it isn't, it is still fascinating.

CR isn’t a park I had ever heard of, so it was interesting going there. Apparently there is a 100 mile long fold in the earth. It is called “Waterpocket”. It makes some interesting formations.

The layers that show up in the formations are really intriguing. For instance, this formation looks like a messy layer cake. That rock on top looks like it could fall at any moment.

In this picture, the different types of formations have different colors. The hard, smooth stuff near the base look like green-patined copper. Might be. The red may be iron. Wonder if any of these layers are from the time of the dinosaurs, or even earlier. Interesting to think about.

There is also a district in the park called “Fruita District.” There are a lot of fruit trees growing along the river, along with a few old buildings and a farmhouse. They sell fresh fruit “stuff” there, like pies, jellies and jams. I bought a pie. They also have an area that lets you pick your own fruit, when there is fruit of course. Not this time of year.

When I left CR, I decided to go to the Goblin Valley State Park. There was a small area for camping and an overlook to the Goblin Valley. The only bad part (besides the parking which was horrendous) was that everyone was climbing all over the goblins. They probably wouldn’t last long, but the info sign said that old ones were wearing down and new ones growing. I’m sure they were wearing down faster than they were growing new ones.

 There are a lot of differently shaped goblins. Some look like faces, some look like animals, some look like short fat "goblins". Some look like a specific part of male anatomy.

 I took a short walk among the goblins and noticed the shapes and the evidence of them being underwater and then above water with the water lapping at the structures. Really neat!

 The different colors also seem to indicate the different mineral content of the water and the sediment that was deposited over the years.