I had plans to go on a longer trip, but my free time is getting cut short and so the farther destinations are out. Is the City or Rocks stupid hot right now? If you chase shade is it tolerable/enjoyable? What forecast (Almo?) do you find most accurate for the City on NOAA or weather.com etc? Gracias

We went a few weeks ago, it was HOT!!! That being said, if you plan right and stay in the shade you can climb all day. The City is awesome! I'm sure you'll have a great time.

Yes, I always check the Almo weather forecast.

Not to hijack the thread, but what is the camping there like? Am planning on heading there next weekend for several days, but haven't reserved a site. Am I screwed? The guidebook says there's BLM camping. How is it?

Expect the City to be HOT! That being said, if you plan things right than you can always find something in the shade. Plus since brief afternoon thunderstorms are fairly common, than you may just have a chance to cool down.

BTW free showers at the RV campground near Almo!

I was out there last week. Climbed Thursday evening and then Friday morning. I didn't think it was too bad, but we chased shade and weren't doing any climbing during the dead of the day. Camping can be an issue though. We drove through five or six sites before we finally found an open one for Thursday night.

Does anyone have suggestions on which campsite areas are better than others?

I was up at City of Rocks a month ago. I stayed in campsite #17 I believe. It was in the shade for the majority of the day; I avoided the hot sun the entire trip.

So campsites are $12 per night + $5 per extra vehicle?

I thought I read they also charge $10 on top to reserve in advance--is this true??

I was there last week. It was pretty damn hot. We would take a break during the middle of the day to hide in the shade of camp. Our campsite's picnic table was in the trees which was nice. It's across from owl rock if you're interested.

Thanks, R & R. My partner said camping used to be free at the City when he went there more frequently. He was surprised to learn we had to pay! :-O

I will check out the campsites near Owl Rock as well when I roll in! ;-)

I have heard rumors about a camping area outside of the main paysites that is supposed to be pretty nice...Does anybody have any additional info or directions to this area?

Shaun, if you roll in from the north via Oakley (like I did), there are two turn-offs that indicate National Forest access. I assume this means free camping, although I could not tell you what that constitutes (see JacobD's comment?).

As for the 'free' showers mentioned by Bad Sock Puppet...um, we found them to be free if you just don't pay. To accomplish this, we always rolled in at night, and there didn't appear to be an on-duty camp host. The campground is the Smoky Mountain campground, accessed via a southbound dirt road that turns off the road that leads you into the Preserve from Almo. A lot of sites seemed to be open here as well, Shaun (even on the weekend), but the price is $5-11 higher per night. A lot closer together than City campsites and with paved parking spots to boot, but pretty nice nonetheless and all the sites were among lots of trees.

The Rock City general store in Almo has an awesome firewood supplier. For five bucks, you get a ginormous bundle of super dry, super-burnable wood in mostly average-sized pieces. But wait, folks, there's more! A number of smaller starter sticks are also already chopped up and included, as well as some newspaper. The only drawback is the store owners kind of run their hours 'as they feel like.'