Goblins After Dark

By Harriet Fawcett

Goblin Valley

August 28, 2015

Arriving at Goblin Valley, I felt as though I had been transported into a mythical land or a set off Doctor Who. As the sun started to set and the moon rose the few people that weren’t part of our group dispersed leaving only 13 of us at the mercy of the Goblins after dark. Once I had explored the surrounding area I sat for a while watching the moon come up. The Goblins created a mood around the valley, one where no one had much to say but with the occasional glance over to one another we all knew we were content with what we were seeing.  The moon was mesmerizing, giving what looked like a spotlight to each individual goblin. Once the sun went down like any typical folktale, I felt like it was time for the Goblins to come alive and they were just waiting for the human presence to leave which was are queue to head back to camp.

Alone on Mars

By Paula D. Barteau

Goblin Valley

August 29, 2015 

I found a Goblin all alone out here

Gaping at the hot red Utah sun

 

I stepped through a door, carved by weather out of stone

Realized I was on Mars now, all alone

Heard laughter just a moment later

And the illusion of it shattered

I walked away from that reminder

To be all alone

All alone

I found water where the dust turned into mud

A crevice full of clouds the sky did not reflect

I felt the hot breath of the rocks behind me

Panting on my neck

Sometimes it’s easy to forget you’re not alone

Forget the things sustained in your blood

And living in your sweat

I could remind myself by drinking from the ground now

Fill my body with a handful of a million other lives

Feel them only as a symptom in my body

As a haunting of what’s easy to forget

Sometimes you see faces in things that don’t have them

And you forget about the lives inside of things that do

Some things are so small they can only know you like you would a mountain

While you forget in these vast cascading places

Anything could be as small as you.

Moonrise over Goblin Valley

By Erin Fussell

Goblin Valley

August 28, 2015

Landscape of Outer Space

By Joanna Keane Lopez

Goblin Valley/ Horseshoe Canyon

August 30, 2015

Goblin Valley came off as an inhuman place full of alienistic formations and landscape. The sand and rock structures (the hudoos/goblins) were a labyrinth of other worldliness. I had a fun time playing hide-and-go-seek, exploring cave structures and running around the strange, beautiful & bizarre landscape.

We also did a day hike into Horseshoe Canyon to see the archaic rock paintings. It was incredible to see the ghostly artistic traces of other humans who inhabited the area thousand of years ago. I can’t help but wonder what the story is behind the phantom like figures… But at the same time, I enjoy the mystery.

Goblin Valley

By Eleanora Jaroszynska

Goblin Valley

August 28, 2015

 After dinner at the campsite we drove round the corner to Goblin Valley.  There was a mystical and playful atmosphere in amongst the pillars of clay and rounded sandstone that turned us into children. Joanna and I ran around playing hide and seek until we had exhausted ourselves chasing the misleading echoes that would take us to the opposite side of the canyon.

Tired from running around we found a rounded boulder to sit on in a high up part of the canyon. We sat with our backs to the residue of the sunset and faced the rising almost-full moon. As we sat there in the thick silence, an owl circled low above us three or four times. The scene seemed so otherworldly while at the same time the alien landscape oddly made me feel very aware of being on a planet.