Castle Crags Wilderness
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Castle Dome Trail Castle Crags Wilderness |
May 14, 2010
The 210-mile drive from home — entirely on Interstate-5, is dispatched in a mere three hours, even with the Highway Patrol on the prowl for speedsters seemingly at every turn.
After paying the eight-dollar entrance fee to enter Castle Crags State Park, it is a short drive up a one-lane road to the parking lot for Vista Point. Just behind the potty is the trailhead. It is a perfect 55° at 9:30 a.m.
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| Getting started | Easy on the feet |
The first half of the route is a forested and mellow walk strewn with pine needles. The muffled sounds of freeway traffic are everpresent to this point, but eventually they dim and all but disappear. There is no avoiding the occasional train whistle, however; but that seems okay.
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| A lone Dogwood blossom | Pine Violet |
Eventually I am treated to a magnificent view of a favorite mountain, 20 miles to the north.
Mount Shasta, 14104*, America's second-highest volcano outside Alaska
Amazingly enough, all seven of Shasta's glaciers are still growing, and they're the only ones in the lower forty-nine states that are. It seems that, due to a warming Pacific Ocean, this area presently receives enough additional moisture to offset the overall increase in air temperature; but this trend is unsustainable, and the mountain's 5 billion cubic feet of ice will have disappeared by the end of the century.
A mile and a half up the trail, I encounter the wilderness boundary. It is here that I make my first rest and water stop, after a thousand feet of mild but steady climbing. Soon afterwards appears a first view of coming attractions.
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| My first visit to this wilderness | Some crags finally come into view |
A scaly resident is disinclined to relinquish its perch on my resting place, which is highly unusual.
This guy doesn't seem to know that he is supposed to run away
Having made it up into the rocks, the trail suddenly becomes quite rough for most of the rest of the route. Views of the granite formations become increasingly interesting around each turn.
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| No more easy going | An overhanging, precariously perched boulder |
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| Heading straight up into the chaos | Interesting stuff ahead |
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| Castle Dome, 4966' | It's like entering Valhalla |
Eventually the trail levels out at a relatively flat sandy area overrun by manzanita. This is as far up as one can go without special equipment or webbed feet. The vistas are outstanding!
The amazing castle ramparts
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| The Trinity Mountains to the west | I-5, a railroad, and the Sacramento River are down there |
Lassen Peak, 10335*, is 65 miles away
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| No safe passage up Castle Dome | Crag telephoto view |
Cell-phone reception happens to available up here, for a change. After grabbing this unusual opportunity to call to my sweetie at her workplace, I set about exploring this lofty area. Attempts to find a way up to some other high point or other prove fruitless. At the edge of a chasm, however, is this interesting scene:
There is an "idiot fence" in place behind the boulder
I scramble to the top of a scary ledge in order to view a beautiful seasonal cascade. This effort proves unnecessary, however, because a better vantage point is available from the comfort of a trail. With the aid of a topo map, I estimate the height of the falls at 1500 feet. I wish there were a way to get closer; but today, my camera's 18× magnification will have to suffice.
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There are use trails running all over the place in the expansive manzanita thicket, mostly to nowhere. While searching for an alternative path back to the main trail, I end up scrambling in and out of a dry wash. Oddly enough, three hikers approach from below using this same route! Go figure.
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| Manzanita blossoms | Somebody took the easy way up here |
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| The path of least resistance | Two hikers by the big tree |
As usual, the route looks somewhat different on the way down. In fact, portions of it have become spectacularly more interesting:
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| A side-view of the pointed "precarious" boulder | Back at the gates to the home of the gods |
Hardly any flowers are out today; it's too early in the season. One that I do find is pretty special:
Indian Warrior — an early-season regular
About a mile from the trailhead, I am treated to the sight of a mama black bear and her cub crossing the trail about 200 feet ahead of me. I stop to watch them pass. Efforts to photograph the animals are largely unsuccessful, because they never stop moving.
Just as I start out again, a second cub walks onto the trail. It stops, looks at me wide-eyed, then scurries down the hill toward safety. It seems likely that mother bear never spotted or got wind of me; otherwise, she probably would not have acted so nonchalantly with one of her babies lagging behind.
Fifteen minutes later, my walk is finished.
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| Mama and her cubs head down toward Rock Creek | |
§: The Castle Crags are unique. Outside the Black Hills of South Dakota, I know of no other rock formations similar to these that are reasonably accessible. The splendid views, perfect weather, and an exciting encounter with ursus americanus have made this a memorable day.
It would be truly spectacular if the trail system were to extend farther into
the fascinating granite jumble; for only a fraction of the region ever is
visible from this, the only maintained trail that actually approaches the domes
and spires. I fear, however, that such a scenario is but a pipe dream, and
that the virtually inaccessible remote crags are destined to remain the
exclusive playground of rattlesnakes and serious rock-climbers.
Castle Dome Trail
Castle Crags State Park
Mount Shasta