City of Rocks / The Silent City

City of Rocks National Reserve covers 14,407 acres at the southern end of Idaho's Albion Mountains. Granite spires, fins, domes, and monoliths rise from the sagebrush terrain.

The reserve exposes the 28-million-year-old Almo Pluton and Green Creek Complex rocks more than 2.5 billion years old.

Emigrants described the area as “a city of tall spires,” “steeple rocks,” and “the silent city.”

Today, City of Rocks is also an internationally recognized climbing destination, with hundreds of granite routes.

Photographed on foot over multiple trips to the reserve in 2017.
SURFACE SURVEYS / CITY OF ROCKS