<– Day 1 – Sun. Apr. 12th: On the Road Again, Finally | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 3 – Tues. Apr. 14th: Winds and more Winds –>
City of Rocks National Reserve
Today’s goal was to drive from Twin Falls to Salt Lake City, which normally takes about 3 hours. I’ve traveled this route so many times that I mark my progress by familiar cracks in the road. And, every time I pass by a sign that announces the exit for City of Rocks, I tell myself I’m going to take that some day. Well, that ‘some’ day was today.
Knowing that at least some of the roads would be unpaved (turns out most were), I calculated the drive would be much longer than three hours. In fact, the drive took 9 hours, some of which included map checks, photo ops, and very short walks. I don’t advise doing this trip unless you have good maps. We lacked cell coverage for most of the day and there are very few helpful signs (not many roads either).
Today we drove from Twin Falls to Salt Lake City via the City of Rocks and lots of gravel roads.
We took off about 8am from Twin Falls and drove east on I-84, before turning on State Highway 77. We quickly found ourselves following the old California Trail, a spur taken by wagon trains that left the Oregon Trail for California.
The first interesting town we encountered was Albion. Near the entrance to the town an old and abandoned Normal School loomed eerily by the road. We weren’t a bit surprised the a nearby sign boasted how spooky the place was. However, if this is your thing, you should check out this website.
Haunted? Easy to believe.
Normal? She’s trying awfully hard to make me believe that!
When we got to the City of Rocks area, we stopped by the visitor’s center.
The ranger was friendly and helpful. She explained that travelers heading west on the California Trail found the City of Rocks a unique diversion from the long travels. Wagon trains would camp among the lower rocks. Several of the large rocks have carvings dating as far back as the 1840s.
As for rocks inside the visitors center, we didn’t find many. However, we did find this unexpected gem:
Idaho State Park poster with a Willys Wagon!
Continue reading →