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National Reserves - Idaho


City of Rocks National Reserve

9/15/2005 ... then south to City of Rocks National Reserve [NHL]. Saw a brief film at the visitor center in Almo, then into the reserve. Interesting rock formations caused by volcanic activity creating big mound and spires. Part of the reserve is along the California Trail. Stopped at viewpoints and took a short hike.

The park sign
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Pointy formations ...
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... and round ones
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Panorama of the rocky landscape
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9/22/2023 From there north into Idaho, still hitting rain pockets. At this point we also lost cell coverage and the mapping was not trustworthy despite offline maps, so we followed the GPS on a slightly longer route, but on better roads, into City of Rocks National Reserve (also NHL, and Cassia Silent City of Rocks NNL), hitting some California NHT signage on the way in. Here the weather cooperated nicely, with some blue sky and sun, highlighting the cool and magnificent piled-up-rock structures. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the park, doing an out-and-return on the main (albeit gravel) road. At Register Rock we saw many signatures from travelers along the California Trail NHT, for which we also spotted a T-bar marker at another stop. The Window Arch Trail had us walking along and around the rock landscape, with views into a deep canyon, leading us to a small but interesting arch formed in the rock, making for a good photo spot. Finally, we stopped at the huge Bath Rock, where we watched rock climbers on the 240-foot monolith.

Me photoing ...
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a view along ...
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... the California NHT
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The park sign ...
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... with us
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Great views ...
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... including a T-bar ...
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... for the California NHT
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Bright plants all over
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Ken by our ride
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The sign and view of ...
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Register Rock
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Signage ...
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... and a 360 photo from it
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A look at some signatures ...
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... with a detail of some
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Distant mountain view ...
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... with us
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Loving this color ...
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... in the foreground of views
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A 360 in another area ...
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... with deep cuts and huge formations
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A little pool ...
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... and us again
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Ken by Window Arch ...
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... and then me
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One more great look
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Huge Bath Rock ...
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... with intrepid climbers
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