City of Rocks National Reserve

The granite here includes rock around 2.5 billion years old, among the oldest exposed in the western United States, weathered into spires, domes and towers as high as 180 metres. The California Trail passed directly through, and emigrants in the 1840s and 50s wrote their names and dates on the rock using axle grease from their wagons - many are still legible, protected because grease penetrated the granite rather than sitting on it. Register Rock carries a concentration of them. The reserve is now a significant rock climbing destination with well over a thousand routes, many of them on the friction-dependent granite that gives the area its technical character. Camping is limited and books out.

The landscape

• Granite spires up to 180 metres - rock up to 2.5 billion years old.
• Emigrant names in axle grease - written in the 1840s and 50s, still legible.
• Over a thousand climbing routes - on friction-dependent granite.
• The California Trail - running directly through the reserve.

When to go

May to October; summer midday is hot on the rock. A full day.

Good to know

It is genuinely remote with limited services in Almo. Campsites are few and book far ahead. Reserve roads are partly unpaved and dusty. Touching or adding to the emigrant inscriptions is prohibited.

Nearby

Castle Rocks State Park is adjacent; the Albion Mountains are north.

Key facts