Hiking at Castle Rock

The first time I went to Castle Rock State Park here in CA, it was rainy. Very rainy. Today was a very different story.

My companions for the hike, Lori and Julie, ham it up on top of the big boulder at the beginning of the trail.

We drove up CA 17 to get to the park. It was packed when we got there and we actually got the last parking spot available.

Our plan for the day was to hike to the waterfall, check it out, can come back and go home. The weather was beautiful and the trail was fun to walk on.

On our way to the falls, we spotted this amazing image made from a rock with moss and shadows helping to create an image of a face.

The rock seems surprised to see us.

After playing around on a huge boulder at the beginning of the trail and stop here and there for some photo opps, we arrived at the waterfall.

Not a good view and not much water made this waterfall a letdown on our hike.

The waterfall was a big disappointment as we could only see it from a view platform and the fall was actually straight down, as we were on top of it. The photo below shows the perspective we had on it.

After taking some head shots and pix from the waterfall viewing platform. We decided to go further on the trail. We did not have a map, but enjoyed the heck out of finding our way. We came across numerous beautiful views. Some are shown below.

Pause for a photo at a small, trickling stream.

One of the coolest parts of the day was coming across a group of rock climbers in the middle of the trail. They were climbing up Goat Rock. I am guess it was maybe 100 feet tall, at most. It was groovy rock for climbing and had components for beginners and advanced climbers. It was at this location that I began using Lori’s 55-300mm lens. It was a good opportunity for me to test it out. All the below photos were shot with that lens.

After we watched the climbers for a while, we continue on our hike and shortly discovered that we could be sitting on the top of the very rock they were climbing.

The view from the of Goat Rock, the rock that the climbers were climbing.

I met Jack (at left) on the top of the rock. He works for Adventure Out, out of Santa Cruz, CA. He was very nice and helped us all climb up on the rock using his existing rope rigging.

While on the last part of the hike, I spotted a lizard on a tree basking in the sunlight. On a second look, I saw that there was what appeared to be a baby lizard lurking around.

 

Of course, you know me, I had to shoot some video today. All of the video below was shot with my GoPro.