2013 04 02 - Green River, UT to Cortez, CO

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

• Itinerary

Start - Green River KOA, Green River, Utah

End - Cortez KOA, Cortez, Colorado

Distance - about 270 miles

Time - one hour to get to Goblin Valley, 2 hours there, 2 hours to drive to Moab, 2 hours from Moab to Cortez

Route - I-70 West to Hwy 24 to Temple Mtn Rd, backtrack onto I-70 East to Hwy 191 S to Moab, then Hwy 491 east to Cortez

• Summary of the Day

Our goal for the day was to get out of Utah but at the same time, I wanted to see a couple of things we missed the last time in July of 2011.

Our first stop for the day - Goblin Valley State Park, about an hour back to the West and South.  Our goal was South and East (the corner of Colorado and NW New Mexico) but this was worth backtracking.

One of our family's favorite movies is "Galaxy Quest" - brilliant satire but also tribute to Star Trek and other TV sci-fi. One of its important scenes is the typical crew trip down the surface of an alien planet. This setting for the movie - Goblin Valley State Park.

Galaxy Quest's Captain running from the Rock Monster

The short drive west on I-70 led to the 2 lane highway 24 southwest to the area of the state park.  A pretty lonely road but with fantastic scenery.

Enormous storm clouds rolled over us and dropped more rain and I began to worry - would we be washed out from a cool park? But by the time we got to the cutoff of Temple Mtn Road we were fine.

The only other incident on the way was a small group of cattle that had decided to cross the road in front of us.

After that short delay we were just about there.

The small park ranger office and gift shop marked the entrance. The fee was only $7 so not bad.  There were many other folks camped before the park with Rec off road vehicles. And the campground in the park was full. But still rather a less visited park.

At first, PezMiner was hesistant to go out and see the sites. But after a few minutes he relented. And once we saw the place he was very happy he did.

The whole family wandered down from the small parking lot and picnic shelter that was already filled with other families.

The family about to explore Goblin Valley

We spent two hours there and could easily have spent another hour just exploring, playing hide and seek, etc. A great place to adventure.

Goblin Valley, Utah - a totally alien feeling landscape

PezMiner climbs to the top of a very large hill in Goblin Valley

Daddy hiding from the Rock Monster, it does help to roll by the way

Momma walking off to explore (or to find Lillber?)

PezMiner conquers more Goblins

Hole in the Rock, Moab, Utah

Last trip we had spent so much time at Arches National Park that when we had to leave Moab to head south we missed out at stopping at the Hole in the Rock - a small touristy stop about 10 miles south out of Moab. It closes right at 5pm so you can easily get there too late. It is also by itself on the east side of the road far away from anything so if you're not prepared you can miss it quickly. You come around a few curves and suddenly see a crudely painted sign on the top of a mesa, the entrance is IMMEDIATELY past the bluff:

The sign for Hole In the Rock tourist attraction

Its a small stop along the way but one of those one of a kind weird places in the USA. A man decided to build his wife a home inside the cliffside and over the years blasted out a unique house. They turned it into a diner during the 1940s-50s and eventually it became a tourist stop. It now has a unique zoo and the short 15 minute tour is worth stopping to see.

Further south you get into Mendicino where you can start to head southeast on highway 491 to get to Coloroado.

The drive from Mendicino, Utah into Cortez, Colorado is an undulating highway where you finally see farms and ranches compared to the wilderness of Utah.

• Map

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