Desert Domes and Demons: Capitol Reef and Goblin Valley
Utah’s desert wonders continue—in the absolute middle of nowhere.
Oct. 27 - 31, 2025
Capitol Reef National Park, Goblin Valley State Park, and Hanksville, UT
“The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.” Isaiah 35:1
Welcome, friends, to Hanksville, Utah—the definition of the middle of nowhere!
An almost empty campground at the Off-Road RV Park in bustling Hanksville. We were pleasantly surprised to have cell signal :)
After hanging out in busy Moab for five days, we drove west to the national park in Utah that is most likely to be skipped: Capitol Reef.
This is one of those places where the name of the park doesn’t really tell you much about it—and that’s where the GuideAlong audio tour was pure gold. The “Capitol” part of the name refers to the white domes on top of the canyon walls, resembling a capitol building.
“Reef” references a sailing metaphor. The explorers who first toured this area were predominantly sailors, and this huge, windy canyon reminded them of a reef — an obstacle large and obtrusive they would have to steer their ship around to get to the other side of. Similarly, it’s true, you cannot drive or walk through this space. You have to go around it. Which, again, puts its squarely in the middle of nowhere.
Popular sights in the park are the petroglyphs—in fact, a whole mural of art carved into desert varnish.
Throughout the park are remnants of a Mormon settlement called Fruta, so named because of the fruit trees that grew well in this area thanks to the year-round water source that is the picturesque Fremont River. A store in a historic farmhouse IN the national park sells freshly baked fruit pies from the fruit grown in the orchards (plus cinnamon rolls), fast-tracking Captol Reef to the top of the list of the kids’ favorite national parks.
We hiked to a large arch called the Cassidy Arch, named after the infamous outlaw, Butch Cassidy. It’s located in a wash where Cassidy and his gang were rumored to hang out to avoid the law after their escapades. Although there is no hard evidence that he was ever in this specific wash and it seemed that every place within a 100 mile radius was claiming some kind of link to Butch Cassidy. Which makes sense when you are in the middle of nowhere and the most exciting thing to ever happen occurred in the late 1800’s…
Speaking of the law, Nick wanted to call the cops on the only other person around that we asked to take our photo with the arch. Above is what we actually looked like, but she kept not including the arch (twice!!). So our tech support, Sadie, superimposed our family on top of the arch from a photo we took (LOL).
The key geologic feature of Capitol Reef is the water-pocket fold—a term we heard on repeat on the audio tour. Basically, pretend the earth is like layer cake. One of the sides of the cake pushed up and bent over, creating a fold. Pockets in the layers filled with water that kept plants and animals alive in the harsh desert and also contributed to the canyon’s erosion over time.
The aptly named “Golden Throne” formation
Driving through miles of windy unpaved roads through towering canyon cliffs revealing layered rock first exposed millions—and billions—of years ago was an experience unlike anywhere else we have been. As with many national parks, the pictures don’t match up to the words needed to explain them. We’ll let this video (and bonus audio tour clip!) explain it a little better.
Travel tip: Though not as photogenic as Bryce or Arches, Capitol Reef is not a park to skip. And we highly recommend an audio tour so you’ll understand why what you’re looking at is so extraordinary—a nearly 100-mile long wrinkle in the earth’s crust, the Creation story frozen in time, and a peek into our planet’s ancient geologic history.
(Okay, so, Utah turned us into total rock nerds.)
Goblin Valley State Park
Just north of Hanksville is Goblin Valley State Park, so named for its hoodoos that look like… goblins!
The Three Sisters - If you look closely, you can see the resemblance :)
Goblins, goblins everywhere!
We happened to be at Goblin Valley the day before Halloween—and were greeted by an actual Goblin!
One thing we’ve noticed about state parks (compared to national parks) is they tend to give visitors a lot more freedom to explore—and Goblin Valley was no different. We climbed on hoodoos, crawled in caves, and ran every which way enjoying the place. It was a welcome break for the kids from the “we can’t touch that” and “stay on the trail” reminders they hear on repeat in the national parks.
If we swing through here again, we’ll try to come at night. The stargazing is supposed to be… out of this world :)
The next day, October 31, we packed up camp and loaded up our little goblins heading west. We needed to get out of the middle of nowhere to find a place to trick-or-treat.
Goodbye, Hanksville! Thanks for the epic campfires, the beautiful sunsets, and the unbelievably quiet nights.
Roberts on the Road
For those just finding us, hello! Inspired by the Year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25, our family is on a yearlong RV road trip in 2025-2026 to celebrate my husband’s retirement after 20 years in Naval Special Warfare, as well as our 24 years together during the ups and downs of it all.
With our 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son in tow, this trip to explore America’s national parks and beautiful places is intended to help our family reflect and reset as civilian life begins.
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For background info on who we are and where we’re traveling, we’d love for you to read the intro post. The full list of road trip blog posts can be found here. Thanks for stopping by!
