# San Rafael Swell (Reef side) and Goblin Valley 2015



## Charlie Horse (Dec 16, 2012)

Here's my trip report for a little get together that happened Oct 1-3 in the San Rafael Swell. It was the south

side of the swell which includes the "reef" which is a wall of highly tilted rock slabs which create cliffs, slot

canyons, and other amazing formations. The trip also included a visit to Goblin Valley.










We had people from lots of places: Me and my sister Sarah and her toddler Saskya from Utah, Nan and Phil from

Colorado, "Taffy" and Eldon from Washington, and Larry from Idaho.

Goats included my 4 boys Shelby GT, Woodstock, Bacchus, and little Vincent VanGoat. Nan and Phil brought old

Cusco, Finnigan, Sputnik, and Pack-Man who was going to go home with Eldon. A baby <4mo goat named Captian Morgan

also got to go.

After meeting up we started on the dirt "Back of the Reef" road for 4 miles to our camp site at the entrance to

Wildhorse Canyon (Not to be confused with Little Wildhorse Canyon which is more of a slot canyon). After setting

up camp we dropped the trailers and drove further to the end of the road at Chute Canyon for a 5 mile hike:










Chute Canyon is really quite flat and not very rocky. I consider it one of the easiest of the canyons through the

reef.










The above picture helps give a sense of the scale of the place.










Nan and Phil's group emerging around a corner.

We got back to camp at dusk and had some of Taffy's home cooking. She also made the pumpkin seed chocolate chip

cookies she had discovered at a previous pack-goat gathering and I have to say, they were an excellent way for me

to kick off breaking my diet. I could go on about them-- the giant salt flakes on the top, the choco... Lets just

say Taffy was awesome and provided a great meal. I donated a loaf of white-chocolate with walnut bread (I know a

good bakery-- I dont really cook much. I eat mostly Bachelor Chow) and it went over well. I heard Cusco got the

last end piece. The only other campers we encountered way back at the road started lighting large-scale fireworks

which were spectacular lighting up the cliffs and echoing like they did. It was a perfect, almost too warm

evening.

The next morning, Friday, we had breakfast and headed down Wildhorse Canyon. Taffy stayed behind due to her knee

acting up, but she still went some of the way down the canyon and saw some of the more awesome formations.

Today's hike was 11 miles total.










This is Vincent VanGoat, the Lamancha rescue I ended up with this spring. He's going to be huge, I think, and

he's turning out to have a wonderful personality. He's only been on a few treks and this is his first over-night

but he's fitting right in.










Here's Woodstock, a half Alpine, half Boer that Sarah picked up at Rendy in '13 at the auction. He's a fantastic

pack goat with lots of can-do and is as easy going as his name. His main problem is that he's got the perfect

camouflage in the desert! If it werent for his packs I doubt I could have seen him.










Here's Larry and Cusco in what I like to call the "Rock Garden". It has stone-henge type of rocks, it has rocks

that are hollow, full of holes, covered in weird lumps like coral, you name it.










2 year old Bacchus on some interesting stuff. This is at the bottom of a HUGE smooth cliff that leans out over

you. I can never capture the cliff in photographs-- never do it justice.










If there was gold in the Swell I'd be panning these gravel traps. Alas, there is only Uranium to be found here.


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## Charlie Horse (Dec 16, 2012)

Sarah decided to come on the trip at the last minute and brought her baby, Saskya, who is apparently super

cheerful and easy going. She really was no problem!










One of the dry waterfalls dissappeared into a giant crack on the floor. We went around, though I think humans

could have climbed down. The crack went on for a while and we backtracked into it to take a look. Here you'll

see Captain Morgan, a 4 month old Alpine/Nubian doing what he does best: Climb on stuff and strike a pose.










Dont you love the sound of your new packs scraping against sandstone? Here's Shelby GT showing how its done,

being a legit pack goat.










Wildhorse Canyon turns and runs along the reef for a while, with one side being huge, super smooth cliffs and the

other side being more of a rocky hilly type of terrain with a lot of junipers.










It seems that if you're going to encounter some narrows, it'll be near the end of any of the canyons. This one is

not that narrow nor that tall compared to Little Wildhorse, but even so its still kindof a slot canyon for a

hundred yards.










Traffic jamb










Just past the narrows you're out of the canyon and the reef. I've never been to Wildhorse Window, but I have

wanted to visit it. Last time I attempted to find it, I was looking for an obvious trail and failed. This time I

just looked at a map of the reef and decided on a good spot to head up onto the upper surface of the reef to

cross-country it. Here you can see us planning.










No wonder I never found a trail... the reef is just solid stone dunes. We found a few of those stacked rock cairns

that helped, but they disappeared further up.


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## Charlie Horse (Dec 16, 2012)

Its not really as hard of a hike as it looks. It was my first time on top of the reef and I have to say it was

amazing.










The wind started picking up and some rainy looking clouds passed over. The shade was nice though. My hat nearly

blew off a few times.










My turn to carry Saskya. We shall not discuss what happened to the back side of my North American Pack Goat Assn.

T-shirt!










We started finding a lot of amazing, deep and cool pools hidden way up on the reef surrounded by rather mature

trees and lots of vegetation.










Here we are approaching Wildhorse Window.










Just to give you a sense of the scale of this thing










This is why its called the Window










In any case, it was time for a break and for lunch. Apples and those tunafish-and-cracker kits. They're cheap and

make for a good light lunch.










Apparently we were not the first humans to lay eyes on this place. Someone beat us here by a few thousand years.

The Freemont Indians... And they obviously had contact with Ancient Aliens!


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## Charlie Horse (Dec 16, 2012)

Can you believe Cusco is 13 and did this trip with no complaints? He's tough. A cool dude. Finn is only 2 and did

no better.










I could tell the trip so far was starting to take its tole on Sasha's hips. She gets creaky these days and I have

to be careful that there are no jump-ups or she's toast. This trip was pretty smooth and she did fine.










Here's the view out into the San Rafael Desert from inside the Window.










Saskya did not mind getting out of the papoose carrier thing. Cheerful as usual.










Time to head down. I'm thinking someday I'll bring a pad and a good book and hang out for a while.










Sarah, her kid and her other kid.










Off in the distance you can see Goblin Valley sticking up. Heading down the Reef.










By now everyone was ready to march back to camp. The goats kept themselves in the shade. So down the reef and back

up Wildhorse Canyon to camp!










Eldon brought treats. How he kept them a secret this long is a mystery.


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## Charlie Horse (Dec 16, 2012)

Back at camp, Sasha had had enough and was going to settle down for long stretches to rest her old joints.
(PS: Monday, at home, Sasha somehow cut her left hock from top to bottom and I didn't notice it because I thought

it was just her limping from being sore from the trip. She's stitched and bandaged now, but she may be out of the

adventuring business for the rest of the season)










The wind kicked up and a cool mass of air moved in. Not cold but with the wind it was jacket weather. We did brats

and hot dogs and smores provided by Nan and Phil! Then Phil did some lively tunes on his violin and I have to say

he has real talent. Some of that stuff was tricky!










Here's the White Lemon and Sarah's tent the next morning. It was a cooler night but very comfortable-- perhaps

more than the previous warm night.










I always try to post an equipment review so for today... I recommend these cot-tents for car camping with goats.

They dont try to climb over them nor mess with them as much as ground based tents. I do love my hammock but out in

the Swell there arent always enough trees to use it. Apparently Cabellas stole the design for this tent from

Cotopaxi, so if you want one, I'd get one from them to be fair. They're nice because like a hammock you can hang

your legs out and deal with shoes and feet without tracking sand in.










Here you see Nan and Phil ahead of us on a rise, with Temple Mountain in the background. Thats the last remaining

rock from that white layer of stone. I have no idea why it remains but because of it being the last of that layer,

its also the highest thing around. Its easy to tell where you're at judging by Temple Mountain. Its also where the

road comes through the reef so you just cant get lost.










On the road to Goblin Valley, I had to stop and take a picture of the reef head-on. See Wildhorse Window there?

And on the left side the exit to Wildhorse Canyon. Looks different from this angle-- its hard to get a feel for

the depth.


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## Charlie Horse (Dec 16, 2012)

Vincent VanGoat, first goat on Mars!










I know the goats would have been having more fun if this wasn't the third day. It started to get a bit warm,

though it was overcast. Here you see the goats and Larry looking for signs of alien life.










No life in this cave. here are many caves here. I never found the big one I had seen last time.










Vincent is supposed to be the first to explore this planet... but wait... If he's the first, then who is taking the photo?










Shelby GT tried to wedge between some stones he had no business wedging in. Doesnt he know he's got packs?

Honestly. By this time I was a little short on patience and kinda didnt react fast to keep him from trying in the

first place. By now we had about 19 miles on us. Getting a little frazzled. A shame because this is a crazy

planet.










The one thing I didn't like about this planet is that there are some very, VERY large sand worms out in the deep

desert.

PS, Taffy gave me a whole bunch of cookies to take home. Sarah and I saw to it that they did not survive the trip.

For those that missed this trip, well, I'm pretty sure I'm doing more of these in the future. Perhaps we'll even

kinda make a thing of it every year. Consider it for next year! Thanks to everyone who attended and it was great

getting to know you. I hope it was worth the drive!


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## FloatnRockRanch (Feb 7, 2015)

Amazing pictures! Thanks for sharing with all of us!


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## dreamacresfarm2 (May 10, 2014)

nice, loved the pix


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing


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## goatylisa (Dec 29, 2012)

I am so envious!!! Beautfiul pictures so fun for the goats, I love it all. Thank you for sharing, it always keeps the motivation up to get out when I see these posts. For me it was the baby and how did that little one get naps?


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## Taffy (Dec 9, 2011)

*Fun Trip!*

This trip was SO fun! Hopefully we can make it an annual event and more people and their packgoats can join in!

Captain Morgan, the 4 month old Saanen/Nubian wether who went on this trip has a 12 brother (same sire-different dam) who is for sale! CAe/CL/Johnes negative herd.

I don't own "Kahlua but am posting his information for the family I purchased Captain Morgan from in the "Classified" section. Check out his ad!

Here are more photos of Captain Morgan on the trip! He had a ball and we had a ball watching him!


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## AriesBis (Jul 30, 2014)

Awww! I sold Captain to Taffy. Glad to see Captain out adventuring! He's a happy goat!


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## nebs (Sep 4, 2013)

One of my favorite threads and I love the sand worms! Thanks for sharing, I know it took some time to put it together.


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