Topic: City of Rocks!

[JollyRoger]

Here's a few pics from a while ago down at Idaho's own City of Rocks.  Z and I decided to make a quick day trip to the City as a last minute type of thing where we had to get out of town and pull down on some delicious granite.    I was pretty rusty after spending a year not able to climb anything, but it was still a blast and we got some good climbs in.  BTW, even if you're not a climber I highly recommend the City during October...beautiful weather, awesome fall colors and not a lot of traffic.  Take the whole family for a weekend camping trip or even just some good day hikes

From the top of our first climb of the day:





Z on top snapping a pic or two and looking for the rap anchors:


An ancient Swedish dude named Petar on his way to catch us!



On the trail to other crags:





Taken by me (on lead), Z on belay on pitch 2 during one of our mid day climbs:







Mormon cricket?





Please feel free to comment or ask any questions you'd like on the routes, gear, etc.  As a general note on gear we went pretty light leaving the big packs in the car and only taking our multi pitch/summit packs.
Enjoy!

[idahobuckeye]

Mormon cricket?

Mormon cricket's are black, that looks like a potato bug.

[charlz]

Yep, that is a Jerusalem Cricket AKA potato bug. Scenic area down there, Castle Rocks used to be in my family, one set of my great great great grandparents settled there and built the brick house that is now the HQ for the State Park people.

[JollyRoger]

Potato bug, gotcha.  After we got back we did a search for what it was and a couple pics popped up of that thing with 'mormon cricket' in the description/caption.  Thought it might have been a young one or different variety.

[RGinIdaho]

JR,

Epic photo Fail! You are turning out to be as lame as Spiff!

No classic JR lookout pose anywhere.

Back to the shower...






Nice pics. I loved hunting the late muley hunt in that area.

[JollyRoger]

JR,

Epic photo Fail! You are turning out to be as lame as Spiff!

No classic JR lookout pose anywhere.

Back to the shower...

Oh no you didnt!!   

Actually, there might be a classic JR pic, but they are on Z's computer and I havent gotten them yet.  I'll be sure to fix that on all upcoming adventures.   

[Spiff]

JR,

Epic photo Fail! You are turning out to be as lame as Spiff!

Hey!

[AR10ER]

Hey!

 

[egress81]

honestly I scrolled through all the photos first looking for the JR pose then went back to the top and then read what you had posted.

[Brother dan]

Great photos JR! City of Rocks is a great area to play.  Looks like they already explained it's cricket....I find those things off and on around my house. mean little bastards.


Dan

[luvmy45]

What routes did you climb? Any of the multi pitch ones?

One of those looks like Elephants Ear... or something along that line, fun little climb.

[Nealio]

Looks like a really cool place, would you suggest taking the family (with young kids) there to camp and hang out for a day?

[luvmy45]

It is and there is camping all over City of Rocks. Great place to run around with the kids.

[monkeywrench]

Many years ago my grandfather took me to an old collapsed log cabin outside of Oakley. This was the cabin he was born and raised in. In his youth he would go to the City of Rocks and climb and explore. He showed my cousin and I a rock he called Bathtub Rock. From the ground it looked like all the other rock formations. But on the top of this rock is a hollowed out basin or bathtub. In the springtime when there was a lot of rainfall this bathtub would have water in it. My grandfather was in his eighties I would guess back then. Anyway my cousin and I climbed up that steep and scary rock, it seemed then to be a hundred feet at least. When we got to the top sure enough there was a bathtub. It was maybe four feet deep and perhaps six or eight feet around. I could be off on the dimensions but the bathtub was there. No water in it then. I haven't been there in many years and don't know if I could find it again. I don't think I have the courage or daring to climb around like that again. The City of Rocks is a very spectacular place. Thank you for jogging my memory. I had a great time there years ago. Monkeywrench.

[JollyRoger]

I would definitely recommend taking the family and kids to the City.  Miles and miles of good trails to hike on, awesome scenery and plenty of spots to camp (if you're going in summer you should reserve a camping spot though).

Luvmy45, I think we only climbed one single pitch route that day...the rest were all multipitch.  We did Raindance (5.7, 2 pitch), Too Much Fun (5.8, 3 pitch) and a few others way out by Site 18.  I was actually pretty bad about keeping track of our routes this time.  Usually I keep good records of what we climbed, the gear used and anything else pertaining to the route (then again, I USUALLY have the classic JR pose too!).  Throughout other trips to the City some of my favorites have been Theatre of Shadows (5.7, 4 pitch), Scream Cheese (5.9,  1 pitch) and the Gall Stone (5.9).  If you're familiar with some of the routes there the next few on the tick list are Sinocranium (5.8, 5 pitch), Cruel Shoes and a ton of others.

After taking a year and a half off from climbing it's going to take me a while to get back to the skill level I was at, kind of a bummer but should give me something to focus on.

[luvmy45]

I haven't climbed in years... my climbing partner (aka, all the gear needed to climb) moved away and I never bothered to invest in my own equipment... when you use someone else gear for a few years, and then have to go buy it all at once, its a shock to the system 

I can't remember the multi-pitch we did, it was a 3 pitch and very exposed, Might have been Too Much Fun, 5.8 sounds about right, nothing real technical just a good fun climb!

Good times indeed!