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Howdy Folks!
Did I ever tell you the one about…Getting Lost in Goblin Valley.
No, well then, just sit right back & you’ll hear a tale, a tale of the Goblin Valley trip. That started from a Moab motel port, aboard this Goldwing ship.
The road into Goblin Valley State Park was a twisty, curvy, windy 2-lane to a rest area at the top entrance of the valley.
From the moment I arrived, I was greeted by an other worldly, alien, landscape. It reminded me of what one might find on Mars, so we’ve been told.
Like no other place on Earth. The distinct shapes, or, hoodoos, or, goblins, are formations of mushroom-shaped rock pinnacles.
The effects are created from an erosion-resistant layer of rock that just naturally happened to be atop softer sandstone.
I learned this from the information tablets placed in the rest area that I read before descending into the park.
So, the goblin-like looking figures give a spooky, unfamiliar, alien world effect, hence the name, Goblin Valley.
I over-hydrated again for the exploration so that I wouldn’t dehydrate whilst Getting Lost in awe & wonder as I wandered around this eerie valley.
I trekked down to the valley & began my explorations.
The colors, the terrain, the desert sun, all combined were creating a magnificent, vivid technicolor experience. Shadow dancing silhouettes heightened the visual carrousel making my head spin with delight.
I was being lured & pulled down the Goblin Valley rabbit hole with Alice & I even thought I saw a hookah smoking caterpillar motioning me to continue my other-worldly descent into the abyss.
Now, it could have been the desert scorching sun frying my already naturally & chemically altered brain, or, my vivid imagination running wild, or, the few puffs of the Magic Dragon bud I just toked, or, any or all in combination. Maybe even too, I really saw what I thought I saw. All I know was I was seeing all kinds of recognizable figures in the sandstone & rock formations & I felt at home, right where I belonged.
Alice took my hand, along with Mary Jane & we forgot about the rabbit’s tic tock haste in obsession with time. We chilled together in another realm with the Cheshire Cat & The Mad Hatter. Reality frayed as our brains turned into gooey psychedelic matter that tasted like a delicious Cannabutter Batter.
Freeing our minds to celebrate in the splendor of awe & wonder, our psyches began to scatter, the hoodoos began to chatter. We became as maddening as The Mad Hatter.
I saw the goblins & instantly thought of all the fantasy Tolkien novels & another great fantasy writer that I’ve loved over the years, Zalazny, who wrote The Amber Chronicles. Where blurred realities collided in the shadow worlds between Amber & Chaos. Even Narnia characters I saw.
I saw Human faces, Fairies, Dwarves, Orcs, Hobbits, Elves, Wizards, Dragons & more. It was a fantastical fantasy world into which I was hurled.
Surprisingly, I came upon a section of very large, phalluses. Well, mainly the heads, the shafts were short & stubby. Shapes that looked like could have been human sculpted, but were natural erosion. There were enough of these shapes around that they could have named it Phallus Valley.
I saw human & cartoon-like faces in the rocks. I saw what looked like the 3 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles grouped together in one constellation & a stand alone of Leonardo for sure.
I saw what looked like depictions of battles carved throughout the natural splendor of times wars waged as if father time sculpted humanity’s history here for all to see.
Nature’s way to travel back in time, nature made, pure, honest, true depictions of man’s follies, rather than, a lie told in fable written by the often tainted subjective perspective of man.
You know, one’s believed ‘true’ history is another’s mythological tall tale.
For any doubters out there, I have pictures of all I saw to prove it.
It was unlike anything I’d seen, &, unlike anyplace I’d been before. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of Goblin Valley until that morning.
I walked & walked, hiked & hiked, scaled & climbed, jumped down & shimmied, I followed naturally lain paths & created my own, I examined the hoodoos & was fascinated by the erosion patterning.
I even came across & saw some ancient hieroglyphic-like depictions of life that appeared to be painted by native, aboriginal peoples from long ago forgotten times.
I spent about 3 hours exploring every nook & cranny in awe & wonder as I wandered until I had my fill, which really, never happened. I just had to quit or I would have become part of the landscape myself.
I realized the time had gone quickly & that I had been exerting myself pretty hard.
I knew, even though I wasn’t thirsty, a warning sign most don’t know about, that I needed to get back to my motorcycle to rehydrate & get shade.
So, this, Man in Black walked out of the desert.
Stay tuned, there’s more to the story coming up in the next post.
Peace & Love, Awaken, until next time…
