Castle Rock State Park

I hike fairly often and after having traveled many trails in the east bay, a bit of Marin and Point Reyes I've found myself wanting to explore new areas. So a couple weeks ago I got another bay area hiking book out of the library and chose Castle Rock State Park in Los Gatos as last Saturday's destination. It's over an hour's drive from Oakland, my friend and I left home at the reasonably earlyish hour of 9:00. the park is at the edge of the Santa Cruz mountains and winding up the road to Skyline Boulevard I was struck once again by how you can feel like you're in the boondocks while you're so close to major urban areas. Castle Rock has a good sized parking lot, and a parking fee of $6.Luckily as in many California parks there is a large area on the side of the road to park for free right next to the entrance of the park.

My friend and I started out on the Ridge Trail which wound through a dark, mossy forest before climbing up onto the ridge where we had tremendous views of the Santa Cruz mountains and the pacific. It was a somewhat cloudy, day so the view wasn't crystal clear but the fog lent its own beauty to the mountains. Castle Rock is known for the swiss cheese like sandstone rock formations. The sandstone has been eaten away so that small caves and holes appear throughout the rock. We saw quite a few climbers at the face of the tall and steep goat rock. A few miles into the hike a small interpretive center gives an overview of the geology and wildlife of the region. After about two and one half miles the trail drops down into a madrone forest where we stopped briefly for some bird watching and were pleased to see a hermit thrush. The trail then enters a campground where we had lunch and a restroom stop.

On the way back we followed the Saratoga Gap trail. This trail follows along the side of the hill below the ridge trail with sweeping views of the Santa Cruz mountains much of the way. Less than a mile before getting back to the parking lot there is a wooden viewing platform built over the top of a fifty foot water fall. Not much water was flowing but it must be a great sight after a rain. Before going back to the car we took the short side trail to see Castle Rock, the park's namesake. Castle Rock is a large sandstone formation with many rock climbers and kids clambering around various parts of it. Just then it started to rain and everyone started a mass exodus from the park. We got back to the car glad that our hike was done before getting too wet.

Driving along Skyline Boulevard on the way to Highway 84 for our return to Oakland we stopped briefly at at a pull out overlooking Palo Alto where a rainbow reached across the sky. On Skyline Boulevard we passed many other trailheads, some of which I hope to explore in the coming months.