Birds and Rocks...Again

We had such a great time birding in Almo, Idaho last June, we decided to go for it again. We drove up to Burley on Friday evening and stayed 2 nights in a nice Marriott. We drove 45 minutes each way to Almo and the rocks on Saturday and Sunday. The weather was warm and wonderful...how lucky. This sign lists just about everything there is in Almo, haha.

First view of the State Park...Castle Rocks. Check out the blue sky and the snow.

The streams were pretty full and racing along and everything was green.

Our first activity at 7:00am on Saturday was a 3-hour hike all the way around Castle Rocks. We spotted over 40 different types of birds.

Dad did a great job of photographing while trying to spot the birds.

Here is our intrepid guide, Wallace Keck. He's part of the reason we returned. He is amazing and can identify many birds by their song or call or scold (yes, most birds have 3 different musical options). He's very good at helping you find them. Of course, it also helps if you are familiar with the names of the bushes and trees he mentions.

Looks like a giant hummingbird rock, but then birds were on our mind all weekend.

Walking through a narrow passageway in the rocks.

Don't know how long this giant pine had been uprooted, but it seemed to be surviving just fine.

At noon, we all gathered at the Visitor's Center for lunch and a presentation about field guides for helping to identify birds. We saw about 18 different kinds of birds just while eating and talking. We bought a hat pin and bird T-shirt. (Anything with a bird on it was 10% off.) Then it was off to the The City Rocks National Reserve for another 2-hour hike.

Really interesting formations.

Beautiful plant, someone said it is called a corn lily, but it's not blossoming yet.

The 2 Birders.

After the hike we drove around to other areas to do some caching and see the Twin Sisters.

I believe this is a photo taken at Circle Creek Viewpoint.

Me in the City.

At a cache location, beautiful stream with the setting sunlight.

We drove up a canyon to the Pomerelle Ski Resort to find a cache. We were supposed to turn right and go up this road--HA!

Back to the Outpost in Almo for dinner. It's about the only place in town. The salmon and grilled chicken salads were delish, topped off with Pioneer Bread Pudding.

I believe this is a female Western Tanager. We saw quite a few of them. Very showy. The male has a red head.

More rocks.

Lazuli Bunting. They were one of my favorites. Their backs are all blue.

Oh yes, we saw half a dozen marmots sunning themselves on the rocks. Cute critters.

Broad-tailed hummer.

Pile of boulders at Castle Rocks.

Indian petroglyphs...probably signifying water.

AH! the red-naped sap sucker. We liked this guy.

Another shot of a lazuli bunting.

This is a shot taken on our Sunday 3.5 hour moderately strenuous hike to view the Inner City from above. This is looking back out to the entrance of the City of Rocks. Through our binoculars, we could see the Wasatch Front mountains (proabably around Brigham City) beyond the ranges you can see here. The dark spot on the white rock that looks like the outline of a person's head and shoulders is a hole that has a shelf in it. It's quite big.

There were quite a few rock climbers in the reserve. They come from around the world. There is a whole book about the routes to climb and each formation has a name. This one might be anteater or string cheese...I can't remember for sure.

A cool balancing rock.

Probably a Turkey Vulture.

Limber pine growing inside of the rocks.

This is called a pothole...a hole in the rocks that retains rain water or melting snow, sometimes indefinitely. This is the largest one in the Reserve and we could only have found it with the help of Wallace.

Lunchtime, what a view spot.

We hiked an extra 45 minutes to see this gigantic, ancient limber pine. Whoa.

There were several amazing clouds in the sky...like UFOs. This one stayed just like this for hours. It forms because the air is so cold up high.

Signage.

Two older things.

Old Lantern on an old barn.

2 more UFO clouds.

More signage.

More signage.

Cute Gray Flycatcher.

Hmmmmmmm??? Can't remember, but rather adorable.

Yes! The black-throated gray warbler with zebra markings! But of course it is.

(Be sure to enlarge to see it better.)

Interesting Rocks.

Hole in the rock or start of an arch. This one is big enough to stand up in.

Wow, a golden eagle. Can you see his feet?

Face with a tongue sticking out?

One more pile of rocks. We really enjoyed getting some exercise and seeing the scenery. We also enjoyed an evening program at a campsite. Wallace showed a power point presentation about his history and his birdwatching friends and lots of birds. Maybe we'll try a hike with a group in Davis County one of these days. But this remote area of Idaho is a fun getaway.