City of Rocks National Reserve

We left Twin Falls yesterday morning and headed southeast to City of Rocks National Reserve. What a geologically interesting place! Our first stop was the very short trail to Window Arch.

Besides the arch itself, there's really nice views from the short trail near the arch.

From Window Arch we continued southeast to Register Rock, a landmark for emigrants on the California Trail,

and a popular place for them to leave their names either in axel grease or by chiseling the into the rock. Nearby is Camp Rock, another place where emigrants left their marks.

The signatures at Camp Rock were a bit more faded than those at Register Rock. From Register Rock we continued on our way to Almo, passing the interesting ruins of a stone house,

and lots of beautiful scenery.

We visited the visitor center in Almo and then headed to the campsite I had reserved. It was a nice site with shade and nice views of the surrounding mountains and rocks. Once we had settled into camp, Noelle and I took a drive out to the Twin Sisters 

before returning to camp to relax and eat dinner. 

After dinner we headed out for a short evening hike on the Creekside Towers Trail. Awesome scenery. It reminded me a lot of the trails in Vedauwoo with interesting rock formations.

The hike is out and back and so after returning to the trailhead parking lot we headed across the road to hike the short trail around Bath Rock.

After our hike we returned to camp and settled in for the night. This morning I awoke for the sunrise from a spot near our campsite.

Once I returned to camp, Noelle and I sat around and looked for birds.

When we had finally gotten moving, we headed out for one more hike before we would depart: the Geological Interpretive Trail. Unfortunately, we did not have the trail guide to learn about the forces that shaped the landscape. We did, however, enjoy the interesting scenery on our short hike.

Once we returned to the trailhead, we were treated to a sage thrasher perched on the trailhead sign.

We watched the thrasher for a bit, then got in the car for our drive south into Utah and the Golden Spike National Historical Park.