Castle Rocks State Park – Almo, Idaho

Castle Rocks State Park is located in southern Idaho near the quaint town of Almo. It is a beautiful drive through northern Utah and onto the quiet, peaceful country roads of southern Idaho. Almo is only a few miles north of the Utah border as the crow flies.

Welcome to Idaho

The lovely scenery along the drive

Almo has a population of about 150 people and sits along the California Trail. It is also along the City of Rocks Back Country byway which is a beautiful scenic drive. Almo has a Visitor’s Center (for both Castle Rocks State Park and the City of Rocks National Reserve), The Outpost steak restaurant, and Tracy’s General Store. Tracy’s is the oldest continuously operating store in Idaho. The area could not be more quaint and charming.

Welcome to the City of Rocks Back Country Byway

Map of the byway

Welcome to Almo!

Tracy’s General Store

Tracy’s since 1894

The Outpost Restaurant

Horses in Almo

Almo road from Castle Rocks State Park to City of Rocks National Reserve – 750E

Castle Rocks State Park has one campground called Smoky Campground. It is located a few miles from the state park up in the hills in the pinyons and junipers along the eastern slope of the 7,500′ Smoky Mountain. It is hardly visible from the road. The nearby City of Rocks National Reserve is well known as a rock climbers dream so even the campground host has a supply of Metolius Super Chalk!

Smoky Mountain with the campground on the eastern slope

Entrance signs

Smoky Mountain Campground Info

Camp Host with metolius chalk

Main road through the campground

Campground: Castle Rocks State Park – Smoky Mountain Campground
Location: Almo, Idaho
Site: 26 (Back in)
Cost: $37.15
Services: W/E
Comments: This turned out to be one of our favorite campgrounds and campsites. We were nestled all snug away amidst the juniper and pinyons with lots of site privacy, lots of peace and quiet, and easy access to hiking trails. AND the views were fabulous! The campground sits at close to 5,000 feet elevation which offered us some cooler weather from the hot summer sun.
COVID Awareness: 10 out of 10. Picnic table looked clean (I still wiped it down). The combined state/federal Visitor Center had social distancing circles outside of the building and limited entry to one person at a time. Employee inside was wearing a mask along with a large plastic window in front of him. Masks were recommended to enter. Hand sanitizer was available. We did not use any other public building while there.

Back-in site 26 with water and electric and lots of privacy

Site 26 at Smoky Campground in Idaho

Our picnic area

Views around our site

Surrounded by juniper and pinyon pines

Site 26

View of the surrounding countryside

Breakfast

Site 26

Note: Idaho State Parks require a MVEF (Motor Vehicle Entry Fee) for additional vehicles other than your RV/camper/trailer. If you tow a vehicle there is an additional $5 per day required. An option is to buy an annual pass for $10 (Idaho resident) or $40 (non Idaho resident) which gives that vehicles free access to any Idaho state park for the year. Additionally, Idaho State Parks gives a camping discount for those over 62 years of age for camping during week days. The MVEF fee is NOT included in the above cost per night

Visitor Center in Almo

We went there to purchase our annual vehicle pass. It was quick, efficient, social distanced, and COVID aware! Thank you!

Visitor Center for both Castle Rocks and City of Rocks

Visitor Center – only one person allowed inside at a time (besides the parks employee of course)

Outside the visitor center – along the California Trail

Hiking at Castle Rocks State Park

The Castle Rocks State Park is about a 5 or 10 minute drive north of Smoky Campground and offers a variety of hiking trails which allow you to explore in and around the rocks. There is a bunkhouse and yurt there along with a nice, long hike to the peak.

Entrance to Castle Rocks State Park

The old historic bunkhouse

Heading to the parking area

Heading to Tiny Town

One of the many rocks

Checking out the pine cones

A marshmallow???

Hiking to Tiny Town

The rocks

The lichen

Losing ourselves in a maze of rocks

Crevices

The maze

Lizard

Prickly Pear bloom

Sandwich rocks

Interesting erosion

Pancake Rocks

Views

City Of Rocks National Reserve

City of Rocks National Reserve is even closer to Smoky Campground than to Castle Rocks State Park. It took us about 1 or 2 minutes to drive to the entrance. Over 200,000 emigrants followed the California Trail between 1843 and 1882 and journeyed through the City of Rocks. They were spellbound by the beauty and uniqueness of the rocks and they would stop, rest, and engrave their names of the rocks before heading off to some of the most difficult parts of their journey.

Entrance

The road inside the reserve

One of the many spires

The rock

More signature amidst the erosion

California Trail – Twin Sisters on the right

Bread Loves

One of the many spires

City of Rocks is also a world class rock climbing area offering a variety of textured granite spires which range from 30 to 600 feet. Over 700 routes have been developed.

Graphic showing some of the climbing routes

Look closely for rock climber

Look closely for rock climbers

Look closely for rock climber

There are several campgrounds in City of Rocks, most more suited to tenting but several sites could accommodate small rigs. The west part of the Reserve along Emory Canyon entrance offers a tenting area called Finger Rock. We saw site 63 which offered gorgeous views. A great campsite!

Open range in Emery Canyon

A great site – site 63 of Finger Rock

The Almo Entrance to the Reserve has an area called Circle Creek Overlook. We took a long hike from that area over to a rock called the Spire which leads on to Bread Loves. A fabulous hike!