City of Rocks

City of Rocks is a National Reserve in southern Idaho run by the National Park service. The name comes from the wagon trains of emigrants in the 1840s and 1850s on their way to California. They described the rocks here in vivid detail as “a city of tall spires,” “steeple rocks,” and “the silent city.” The area is very popular with rock climbers.

We camped at the adjacent Castle Rocks State Park with our friends Bruce and Joyce, who have an Airstream trailer, which is gorgeous inside. 

Susan, Bruce, and Joyce

Part of the campground is set aside for equestrian campers, with a corral at each campsite. 

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Never before have I seen manure bins at a campground! Fortunately the horsey campsites are segregated from the “normal” campsites. 

The emigrants on the California trail wrote their names or initials on the rocks using axle grease. We thought about these hardy souls walking across the continent, while we slept comfortably in our trailers. 

We did a bunch of hiking, and saw birds, and a lot of really interesting rock formations. Be sure to go to the end of the post, after all the rock pictures, for something new. 

Here is the surprise, something new. Susan Claus got me a drone last Christmas, and this is my first real attempt to get a video with it. I am still learning, both to fly it and to take videos. It is really fun!

I flew it past some rocks, and then back to take pictures of Bruce and me. Bruce was busy taking pictures of me flying the drone.