We left our camp just outside Capitol Reef heading towards Moab, Utah to meet Andrew’s parents, Jack and Ellen Koransky. Looking at the map, Goblin Valley State Park is right along the way, so we decided to stop by. Andrew wanted to call his mom before they left Atlanta, so we stopped on the side of the road where we had a bit of a cell signal. He wanted to make sure they were prepared for daytime temps around 95 degrees and evening temps around 35 degrees.
We went into Goblin Valley State Park and found a small state park with a very cute female ranger, so Andrew noted. He commented, “Why didn’t rangers look like that when I worked on Cumberland Island?” I had to smack him, of course.
We got to the park right behind a school bus of local kids. We took a hike the other way. There were lots of cool “Goblins” or hoodoo formations. We left shortly after lunch.
We had the most beautiful drive into Moab via highway 191 and found Main Street in Moab under construction, being repaved. We found the Visitor Info Office in the same building as BLM and a few other agencies. We also found that Moab no longer has free camping on BLM land outside the city limits. It seems Moab was being loved to death. Moab has two peak biking seasons a year, spring and fall. Everyone wanted to come and camp on BLM land for free (as we do). And everyone was peeing and pooping in BLM land. And the dry desert climate couldn’t compensate for all that “stuff”. The Health Department was ready to shut down the whole Moab area! What was agreed on was BLM would set up designated camping areas with pit toilets and charge a minimal fee ($5 & $10). So we tried to find a designated BLM campsite and found them all full (however, it was a beautiful drive down Kane Creek Road into the canyon) We checked out a hostel, the Lazy Lizard Hostel and found it full, but they would allow us to camp in the parking lot for $6.00 per person. So that’s what we did. We ran a few errands, picking up some groceries and a few things for Jack and Ellen who would be coming in late tonight. Their hotel allowed us to put a few things into their room for them (along with some flowers, a late Mother’s Day gift).
The night camping in the hostel parking lot was not too bad until the next morning.