29 – Little City of Rocks
Little City of Rocks, located approximately 12.5 miles north of Gooding, Idaho, is a captivating geological area renowned for its unique rock formations. Visitors can explore an array of towers, hoodoos, mushroom caps, spires, and natural arches that rise from the desert floor, creating an otherworldly landscape ideal for hiking, photography, and nature appreciation. Visit Southern Idaho
The main trail offers a moderately challenging 4.9-mile loop through stunning desert canyons, typically taking about 2 hours and 17 minutes to complete. Along the way, hikers may encounter ancient petroglyphs carved by Native Americans thousands of years ago, adding a historical dimension to the natural beauty. Wildlife sightings, including coyotes, rabbits, and hawks, are also common. Primitive camping is permitted, but visitors should come prepared with ample water and supplies, as amenities are limited.
More Information
Coordinates: 43.119602, -114.683042
Elevation: 4530 ft
Difficulty: 2
What to Expect: No info
Check In
Please read before attempting challenge site or checking in:
Use the form below to check in. Check in’s must include a photo of you or your bike, at the challenge site, with the 2025 bandanna. To check in, all participants must be registered IAMC Challenge Members. Be sure to leave a description about the ride, and share any road conditions as snow, water, or obstacles. Please provide any other information that might help future visitors navigate to this site safely. Replying or commenting on another persons Check In is encouraged, but take care not to create your own Check In on accident.
The stated ride difficulty is just an estimate. By rating the ride difficulty in your experience according to this scale you can help future riders stay safe. You, and you alone are responsible for the safety of your ride. While we do our best to accurately convey the challenge level for each site, it is up to you to make sure you have the skills needed to reach each destination. If you feel the trail exceeds your skill level please turn around immediately.
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Today started off with a super short dirt road to Little City of Rocks. I even got a little water crossing in, but I’ll log that later… hoping for a better one. Seems like a cool place to explore with the kids, so I’ll have to come back.
This is a really cool and interesting place. You can see why it’s called Little City of Rocks. Thanks to the person who built the Little Rock 8 inch wide sidewalk across the pond so that I didn’t have to ridee through the mud water crossing.
Headed to Boise for the week for training. Hit up a couple sires on the way. This one was cool. Met Dan while I was there. He’s doing the challenge sites too. Even let me use his bandana for the check in photo since I don’t have mine yet. April 15th. Great temperature to ride. Cool little spot with a little bit of dirt road and a small water crossing to get in.
Road was in great shape, and this place is BEAUTIFUL! I will definitely visit this place again.
It’s hard for me to rate the road. Going in it was pretty easy, rutted, but dry and you could pick a line fairly easy. Coming out, almost to the highway, we encountered a road grader grading the road! Now he may have made it better. But what I observed was he was cutting the hard-pack tops off next to the ruts, and filling the ruts in with soft dirt. I’m glad I had the chance to ride this road before the grader hit it. And I wouldn’t want to be on this road during or after any rain or snow. Cool spot by the way………
It is a short ways off the paved highway, and is easily accessible with big bikes. It’s a cool little spot to hike if you have some time and enjoy rock formations. I am guessing the dry stacked stones for the rock wall are remnants of a small dam..? It looks similar to a dry stacked dam we have in our area.