Every day's a new day

When I got up this morning, the view from my hotel room showed a few light rain drops falling.  But, I was feeling optimistic.  I didn't want a repeat of yesterday's terrible weather, and I was pretty sure today would be  better.  It was only a two hour drive from Twin Falls, ID to my sightseeing destination of the day... City of Rocks National Reserve.  Never heard of it?  Well, neither had I until the park popped up on a search of places to see on my way to Utah.  I stopped at the visitor's center in Almo, ID, then headed up a well-maintained dirt road to the park.  Even though it was a bit cloudy, I could deal with that...at least there was no rain and the sun peeked through now and then! 

The park's name is a pretty good description of what it's all about...a LOT of rocks!  A CITY of rocks!  Wind and weather have shaped the rock formations, and like other parks, there are some highlights.  This is Elephant Rock...popular with the rock climbers.  In fact, if you look real closely, you can see a guy getting set up to climb it! 

 The park also has its resident arch...the rather small Window Arch.  And, yes, I was standing right in front of it.  Right after I took a few pictures of the arch, a bird flew by me and landing on a tree.  Always on the lookout to snap animal pics, I manage to get a shot before it flew away.  I'm pretty sure this is a Townsend's Solitaire.

 

After lunch, I really wanted to put in a hike.  I chose to do about a three mile loop, starting first on the Creekside Towers Trail, connecting with the Stairways Trail and returning on the South Fork Circle Creek Trail.  There was no one else around, and it was so peaceful walking the moderately easy dirt and slick rock trail.  I took a LOT of photos of rock scenery...better too many than too few! 

 

There are many rocks within the park bearing the signatures of emigrants that in the past two centuries used to live in the area or were just passing through on the California Trail.  Many of them used axle grease to mark their presence on the stone.  Before I left the park, I stopped at the Emigrant Register to look at some of those signatures.

 

As I was returning to my Blazer, a bird landed on a power line above me.  It was a bluebird...a female mountain bluebird to be exact!  How pretty!  I had never seen one of these birds before.  I slowly brought my camera up, trying not to scare it before I could take a few pics.  It was almost like the bird was saying goodbye, thanks for visiting.  

It was a fitting end to a great day.  As I left the park, dark clouds moved in and later miles away, I could see it was raining above the rocks.  Thank you, Mother Nature for holding off on the rain until my day was done.