2010 Road Trip, Drugi Dio, Idaho

Part Two, The Gem State 
(and a little bit of Utah)


The drive out of Wyoming was for the most part uneventful.  The scenery was gorgeous, it was a sunny day, and it was pretty quiet in Southwest Wyoming, aside from some good laughs  and a few groans over making way too much hummus for two people to eat. 

We had to drive through the tippy top corner of Utah, so we stopped at Bear Lake to water the dogs.  A few raindrops spattered on us, but the rain blew over, and the dogs had a great time running on the lake shore, chasing birds, and playing fetch.  They had so much fun that, hours later, after we stopped in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, soaked in the world famous springs, and took two showers each, the dogs were still sleeping.  Of course, by that time, it was rather late.  Opting not to pay for KOA campsite, we drove on into the night, and eventually pulled into some unmapped, small town to sleep in the car for a few hours.


June 6th we arrived in Almo, Idaho bright and early to get our climb on in City of Rocks.  The landscape was amazing and the rock formations unbelievably rugged and expansive.  We were happy to be following part of the California Trial and it was impressive to see settlers' names written in axle grease still clinging to the rocks.  
We drove around the City, ate breakfast, hiked a bit, and drove around more, but we soon realized that, for the height of the rocks we meant to climb, our guide book was rather incomplete.


As it turns out, there was just so much to climb there, it was impossible to give adequate description of whether the routes were bolted or what kind of gear we needed to take for protection.  Also, almost all of the routes require two ropes to rappel.  Since the guide didn't specify the heights of the routes, Shaun and I didn't feel comfortable climbing with just our one rope.  We decided to camp on BLM land close to the City, and give it another shot in the morning, since a friend from Bozeman, who had experience in City of Rocks, was planning on meeting us to show us around.


Morning came, and the rocks were still as massive and foreboding as they were the day before.  We hiked to a few routes we thought we could climb, but were still just as intimidated as we were the day before.  We read through our guide for the 20th time, but it was still as incomplete and vague as it was the day before.  And our friend with the second rope wasn't coming like he said he was the day before...  
Feeling pretty down, and having completely lost our climbing mo-jo, we decided to pack up our camp.  Even though we had finally hit on good weather, something in Idaho just didn't want us to be there, and we felt that we needed to move on. 
Besides that, I was having a killer craving for tacos, and Almo, Idaho just didn't have a Taco Bell, or for that matter, any restaurant of any sort.


On to Nevada.  Into the desert.


Photos of Utah and Bear Lake in THIS album.
Photos of Idaho in THIS album.