Goblin Valley State Park

Drive through video tour: https://youtu.be/X8c0JyTBJCE

Here is the deal. If you need a campground with some amenities then this might be the place for you. It has a dump station, places to fill up water and bathrooms/showers. Keep in mind that during the winter the water is probably shut off.

You get the above for $35 a night. This includes free neighbors close by to talk to.

Now, if you don't really need all of the above and don't want to pay $35 a night, you need to check out all of the BLM land out here. There are SOOO many FREE places to camp away from everyone. Certain times of the year can get busy but you still can't beat free.

Okay, back to the campground review. When I visited the area was well kept and clean. The water was off for the winter so the flush toilets and showers weren't available. Vault toilets were open.

The sites aren't crammed together but you will still have neighbors. Each site has a table, fire pit, shade shelter and tent pad area. There are a couple of yurts that you can rent and also some tent only spots that you are required to walk to.

Overall, it is a decent campground but I would prefer to stay for free on BLM land. I am also set up with a toy hauler that I can be self sufficient for a week. So, if you need or want the amenities of a campground then you can't really go wrong here. You also don't have much of a choice out here in the middle of nowhere. 🤣

If you can put up with zero reception, this is an excellent place to camp. The kids can climb all around it and they have a great time!

You really don't get any reception at all, and no WiFi, so come prepared to go offline, but otherwise this was great.

It is dry camping without power, so bring your own water and a generator, but there are bathrooms and showers that are quite nice.

Plus, Goblin Valley is right down the road.

The closest thing I can compare this to is the Valley of Fire in Nevada where you are really camping in the rocks. You are here too but it is much more developed. Despite the remoteness, you've got water, a dump, and restrooms & shower. Check-in these days couldn't be simpler...state your name and site number, get a tag and you're done. There is a nice little visitor center with helpful staff. Trails galore including 7 miles of Wild Horse Mountain MTB (not for the faint of heart). Each campsite has a ramada, is paved and for the most part, level. There is absolutely no cell service from the campground (I tried all configurations) but with a booster & my ATT hotspot, I got a faint 3G signal up by the MTB trailhead. The Goblins are incredibly cool too! Visiting during the hotter months would be really challenging I'm sure. There is a lot of dispersed camping in the area plus ATV trails and the Little Wild Horse Canyon & Bell Canyon trailhead just outside the park on 1013, all part of the San Rafael Swell. Seriously dark skies made it great for watching the Orionid meteor shower. Amazing area!!!

My visit got off to a rocky start after the park staff of 20-somethings who had no interest in helping the visitors informed me that they had neither ice nor firewood available at the visitor center even after I had called from Highway 24 to ask if such items were available on site. I was told that they were so I skipped driving to Hanksville to stock up before heading into the park only to find out that they were sold out upon my arrival. They were also unhelpful when I came back to the visitor center to complain that someone was in my reserved site even though it was after check out time. The bathrooms and showers left something to be desired - I think they got most of the fixtures from a 1950's high school locker room before it was condemned. Not much privacy in the campsites and everyone is packed into a small area. While no one was being obnoxiously loud sound travels very easily and echos off of the rock face that makes the western boundary of the camp so even casual conversations can be heard by all.
The hiking opportunities in the park are amazing and a must see but I think I'll take my chances on boondocking just north of the park if I visit again.

We were considering boondocking in nearby Temple Mt. Wash area, but decided a shower might be nice, so we grabbed one of two sites remaining at Goblin Valley when we arrived at 1:00 in late March. The site we had was really a parking spot (two parking spaces) and we could walk about 50-75 feet to our picnic shelter and fire ring. It was an odd set up. Other sites were better (an actual back-in site with your shelter and fire ring adjacent to the vehicle). We straddled our two parking spaces to ensure that our bedroom window wasn't next to someone else's, and made two trips each to our shelter with grill, camp chairs, wood, and food. It worked out okay, but initially, we were underwhelmed. Our picnic area was quite nice, close to interesting hoodoos, and had a little canyon that led up and over a ridge to another area of the park.

There was no electricity or water at our site. Water spigots were scattered around, and we were able to fill our tank and do a black water dump at another area of the park. The bathrooms and showers were fine...nothing special, but better than expected. The showers run on a timer, push a button for five minutes, push it again for five more, but there was not charge for them.

I doubt I would stay here again (i'd be inclined to boondock), but kids in particular seemed to love the tactile experience of the unique formations. We saw many kids climbing rocks, crawling through canyons, and freaking their parents out with their immunity to any fear of heights. The stars were spectacular, and before the stars really brightened, we saw kids enjoying panning the rocks with flashlights because the area is truly funky and magical.

Goblin Valley State Park offers a small, very popular campground. If you want to stay here you will want to book early.
There is extremely limited cell service in this entire area. We did find Verizon cell service while mountain biking in the park when we were on the highest points. But, that was even spotty and I only knew we had service when text messages which I had been unable to receive arrived in bursts.
I highly recommend this park. The camping is fine, but it is the park itself which makes it great. The hiking within the Valley of the Goblins is free-roaming which was new to me. You can go wherever you like. It made it fun to explore the rocks and landscape.
The park also has new mountain bike trails which allow you to see an entirely different landscape within the park. The trails are all rated easy, are well marked, and offer amazing views.

I am a full-time traveling solo rv-er. I was desperate for a place to stay at this point, and I couldn't find any good boondocking locations nearby. This is a place to come if you want to get away from it all, a vacation. This is way out in the middle of nowhere, not so good for an overnight LOL. Stunningly beautiful, quiet, lovely campsites with privacy, so I highly recommend it for a vacation or a traveling family.

Upon driving into the park, it doesn’t look super exciting. Pretty views, and a few “goblins,” and a lot of desert area. There real fun lies at the “Valley of the Goblins,” which is a short drive up the road from the campground!

Some facts about the campground:
--It is a dry campground, meaning there is no electricity or water at the individual sites. There are water spouts spread throughout the campground, and there is one bathroom in the middle with free showers. Generator hours are 8am-8pm.
--They have a dump station with potable water. The campground is basically in the shape of the letter “D.” The tents and RV spots are on the rounded part, the dump station is on the straightaway. It is not labeled, so pay close attention so you don’t miss it.
--They have two yurts that look REALLY cool! One of them is way back in mountain, if I could pick I’d jump on that one.
--I highly recommend reservations. The campground was full when we were there (a Wednesday night in June of 2017), and we saw lots of others drive through hoping for a spot, but then having to leave. Overall it is a pretty small campground.
--The campground gets noisy at night. The quiet hours are not enforced (no camp hosts), and people ran their generators well past the 8pm cutoff time. If you’re looking for quiet evenings, this may not be the spot for you. We tried to photograph the stars at night (there are a million), but ended up with nothing, as people had their flashlights and lamps going on full blast all night. I suggest avoiding site #2. As other people have posted here, it's really the gateway to the bathroom - people walk right next to your rig or tent to get to the bathroom rather than taking the paths or road. Got annoying after awhile.. and noisy.
--Very kid-friendly place. Take the kids (or adults!) down to the “Valley of the Goblins,” a short drive or bike ride up the road, and plan on spending the day down there playing. It’s very very cool. Many people also had their dogs down there.
--Speaking of bikes, there are lots of mountain biking paths around too. Head out of the campground, and make the first right onto a dirt road up a huge hill. At the top you will find solar panels and some really awesome looking mountain biking trails. There was another one if you head down past the rangers house and past the yurts. The road ends, and a trail begins.
--This park has a group camping area. We couldn’t get a peek at it, as it was being used when we visited, but it’s pretty far from the bathrooms. It looked fun - but a bit of a hike to the facilities if that matters to you!
No cell phone service (Verizon).

Overall, this was the perfect stopping point for us from Capitol Reef National Park (NP) to Arches NP. We spent one night, which was enough time to take in the goblins and relax and enjoy the view, otherwise there’s not much else there. If I had older kids, I think 2 nights would be perfect here - a day to arrive and set up, then a full day to play in the Valley of the Goblins, mountain bike, or hike around. We would stop back here for sure if ever passing through again!

Check out our video review of this campsite here. Please like and/or subscribe to follow along on the rest of our adventures!
https://youtu.be/JmPCtlzYbkg

There's no cell service here, but it's a must visit location. Occasionally a text would get through on the Verizon phone when boosted. We stayed in the middle of November 2016.

Set aside time to visit this amazing location. The rock formations are amazing and a photographers dream. There is geocaching and disc golf. We even were allowed to off load the ATV and slowly ride out the back gate to the San Rafael Swell. There a slot canyon and be prepared to get wet.

We wanted to stay longer, but could only be off grid for a couple days.

There was only one problem. There are about 5 sites large enough for our rig and ALL of them had small vans, cars, or pick up trucks in them. There were plenty of small sites open though. The host was nice enough to let us park in the group site though. PLEASE take a campsite appropriate for your size of rig. All the sites in this campground are nice.

Arriving: https://youtu.be/N8Qt7794COo
Morning: https://youtu.be/5pu96bHJzhQ
Afternoon: https://youtu.be/-X7-5ekMZ0o
Leaving: https://youtu.be/2gazsenZEew