Enid at Goblin Valley
We drove to Goblin Valley this morning, about 70 km to the south west of us. By the time we arrived it was very windy. The forecast for today (and unfortunately for tomorrow as well) has a wind warning, with wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour. They certainly were that strong today, and the desert area was hazy with blowing dust. Our teeth were gritty as we walked around the “goblins” which are a very large number of short hoodoos.
Goblins
If you can say, “I’ve seen one goblin, so I’ve seen them all” then you need not look at the more than one hundred pictures I took today. Each of them is different, looking at the rock formations from different angles. We walked around for quite a while, despite the wind. It was quite easy walking, relatively flat between all the mushroom-like shapes.
Temple Mountain
After the hike we drove back to the visitor centre, where they have a few displays and a large relief map of the area. I thought it would be interesting to drive across the desert, but after we ate lunch and started on the road, the pavement suddenly ended after a couple of miles. We drove on a very rough and rocky road for a little while, but when we came to the first place I could find to turn around, we stopped. It was at the base of Temple Mountain, which apparently was the site of a uranium mine until about 1970.
The wind has not abated at all. Enid is suffering, as it is making all of her joints ache. It is warm, over 28 C, but the wind has been wicked.