City of (really hot) Rocks

Greetings, blog-readers! Here's the next update from our trip to Texas!

Wednesday night, we drove from Twin Falls, ID to City of Rocks National Reserve, just outside of Castle Rock State Park.

Before we left, we went to the bookstore to grab the CoR guidebook. There were two options: a big, blue book that had a lot of information and cost $24, or a small Falcon Guide that was $8... Having great success with our Falcon Guide to Smith, we chose the cheaper. However, after hours of confusion, misdirection, and anger, we realized this book was last updated in 1997... Fortunately, we met a couple guys who guide in Moab, UT who let us peek at their book. Unfortunately, most of the routes required either two ropes (we have one), a 70m rope (we have a 60m), or trad gear (we only have four pieces).

By lunch time, we were feeling rather defeated by the heat. Instead of trying to chase the shade and find more climbs, we went scrambling down this sweet canyon, into

a sea of rock towers and trees. We found this secluded cave where we decided to take a book break (with Bart, of course).

After we found our actual campsite (we slept off the road the night before because we couldn't find it), we went down towards the Visitor Center in Almo, and found Rock City, a convenience store/restaurant. There, we had the most delicious pizza ever, but then again, our standards were pretty low because we had Tootie Frooties for breakfast and lunch. After pizza and a cold beer, we went down the road to Durfee Hot Springs, where we spent about three hours chilling in a hot pool, discussing our road trip plans with a couple women (who also asked if we were "rappellers," to which we just said yes to avoid any confusion).

The night ended with a nice fire and a couple chapters of the audiobook "Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls" by David Sedaris. We fell asleep to a beautiful moon peaking over the large rock formation in front of us, and woke up in a pool of sweat from the 80 degree morning weather. Overall, it was worth the trip, and we definitely want to go back!

We just went to lunch at the Bayou in downtown Salt Lake City, UT for lunch. Now, we're taking a wifi break at Millcreek Coffee Roasters before we hit the road for another hour to see Jeff and Rebecca in Orem!

Keep checking out our Facebook pages for photos!

Peace out for now,
Emily (and Keith)