About this permit
Goblin Valley State Park has exactly two yurts. They were built in 2011 and were the first of their kind in the Utah State Parks system, and they sit in the park's 24-site campground with centrally located restroom and shower facilities.
Each yurt has heat and a swamp cooler, a single bed bunked on top of a double bed plus a futon couch, a table with four chairs inside, deck chairs outside, and an outdoor grill with propane supplied free. The rate is $150 plus tax. A maximum of two dogs are allowed in the yurts at $20 each, and an extra vehicle costs $20.
Booking is the constraint. Everything at Goblin Valley (campsites, group site and both yurts) is booked four months to the day in advance, and the window opens at 8 a.m. Mountain Standard Time. Two yurts, one release moment: this is a permit where a cancellation alert does most of the real work.
The park sits at 5,000 feet, 50 miles southwest of Green River off State Highway 24, and is a certified International Dark Sky Park, designated in 2016 after a two-year application process.
The route
The yurts sit in the main campground with the restroom and shower facilities centrally located, so the walk is short and the trailheads are close. Valley of the Goblins starts steps from the pavilion: three square miles of hoodoos across three undeveloped valleys with no maintained trails. Start with Valley One, work into Valley Two, and if you want the longer day, Valley Three is a five-mile round trip. Carmel Canyon is a 1.5-mile moderately strenuous loop that connects to the Goblin's Lair trail and the Three Sisters. Goblin's Lair itself is a 3-mile out and back that ends at a cave. It is exposed and sandy, and it needs basic bouldering skills to climb in. The Three Sisters are 250 yards from the trailhead and are the formation on every souvenir in the visitor center. For a wider view, Curtis Bench is a 2.1-mile out and back along the Curtis formation that opens up the Henry Mountains.
Why it matters
Goblin Valley built these in 2011 and they were the first yurts in the Utah State Parks system. Two of them serve a park with one of the darkest night skies on Earth, three square miles of free-roaming hoodoo terrain, and no shade anywhere. In a place where summer runs past 100 degrees and winter nights drop below freezing, a yurt with heat and a swamp cooler is not a luxury. It is what makes the shoulder seasons workable.
The feeling
Steps from the pavilion, the ground drops away into thousands of stone gnomes and you can just walk out among them: no maintained trail, no rope line. After dark it gets better. The park is virtually free of light pollution from populated areas, and the Milky Way comes up over the valley in a way most people have never actually seen. Then you go back inside, turn on the heat, and sleep in a bed.
