Hiking Castle Rock State Park

We had a wonderful hike at Castle Rock State Park. We saw a few rock climbers scaling various rocks and enjoyed the beautiful greenery.

According to Wikipedia:

Castle Rock State Park is a state park of California, USA, located along the crest of the Santa Cruz Mountains. It embraces coast redwood, Douglas fir, and madrone forest, most of which has been left in its wild, natural state. Steep canyons are sprinkled with unusual rock formations that are a popular rock climbing area. The forest here is lush and mossy, crisscrossed by 32 miles (51 km) of hiking trails. These trails are part of an even more extensive trail system that links the Santa Clara and San Lorenzo valleys with Castle Rock State Park, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, and the Pacific Coast. Castle Rock is the starting point of the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail, a 30-mile (48 km) trail that leads to Waddell Beach north of Santa Cruz. There are two walk-in campgrounds within the park for overnight backpacking. The 5,242-acre (2,121 ha) park was established in 1968.

Alex tried to climb one of the many large rocks without success.

We followed the long, twisty trail to the main waterfall, which was just a trickle at this time of the year.

At the main waterfall, we saw two rock climbers scaling the cliffs. Both succeeded in their ascents.


We followed the trail further. After a while, the shade was gone, and we were out in the open.

We stopped by a rock that Inna and Alex thought was the "Goat Rock" - but it was not.



Here is a photo of the actual "Goat Rock" from one side. Several rock climbers were setting up ropes to prepare for descent.

And here is a photo of the Goat Rock from the trailside.