While Goblin Valley, Utah had been inhabited by indigenous people off and on for centuries before American settlers arrived in the area, its modern history didn’t start until the late 1920s. The first American to discover the area was Arthur Chaffin, a county commissioner on a mission to find a feasible route for a road to connect the nearby towns of Caineville and Green River.
Although he didn’t think the valley was suitable for a road, he took note of the thousands of unique mushroom-shaped rock formations that covered the area, marking the spot on his map and calling it the “Valley of the Mushrooms.” Today, locals call those formations “hoodoos,” and Goblin Valley State Park has more of them than anywhere else on the planet.
After Chaffin’s discovery, Goblin Valley would remain undisturbed for about two decades until amateur historian and explorer Philip Tompkins arrived on the scene. A resident of San Francisco, Tompkins was enamored by the gorgeous Utah scenery and hired Arthur Chaffin to show him around. As soon as Tompkins asked to see something special, Chaffin knew exactly where to take him: the Valley of the Mushrooms.
With the aid of a single horse and a beat-up old Jeep, Chaffin, Tompkins, and a couple of hands trekked out to the valley in 1949. The men stayed for nearly a week, taking pictures and making observations because of the area’s distinctive appearance. It was Tompkins who came up with the “Goblin Valley” moniker, named after the hoodoos that he felt resembled “grotesque figures.”
The photos were printed in local newspapers and Tompkins spent the next several years writing to government agencies in the hopes of creating a park to preserve the valley’s fascinating landscape. While the federal government had no interest in Goblin Valley, Utah state officials responded to the letters and ultimately purchased land in the valley in 1954, creating what would eventually become Goblin Valley State Park.
To learn more, check out our Goblin Valley Utah Self-Guided Driving Tour, or you can sign up for Action+ to gain access to over 100 tours for a single yearly price.
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