Bath Rock to Morning Glory Spire

The Bath Rock to Morning Glory Spire loop explores the most historically evocative terrain in City of Rocks National Reserve, a landscape of 2.5-billion-year-old granite monoliths that served as a landmark and campground for California Trail emigrants traveling westward beginning in the 1840s. The granite formations visible along this route bear actual axle grease inscriptions left by 1800s emigrants, preserved by the dry desert climate and the hardness of the rock surface itself.

Morning Glory Spire rises as one of the most dramatic formations in the reserve, its slender granite column a celebrated target for technical rock climbers who come from throughout the West to test themselves on the reserve more than 500 established climbing routes. The loop climbs through boulder gardens and open pinyon-juniper woodland, passing enormous granite domes and towers with names assigned by generations of climbers and visitors. Views from elevated trail sections encompass the full reserve, a city of stone rising above the surrounding rangeland. The contrast between the ancient granite and the fragile grease inscriptions left by long-vanished travelers creates a layered historical experience unlike anything else in the region. Wildflowers bloom in rocky crevices throughout the spring season, and mule deer are common in the boulder fields at dawn and dusk.