Getting Out: Some time ago, when my daughter was still
celebrating single-digit birthdays, she viewed each rainstorm as an
opportunity to get outside and play. As the first drops fell, she
ran for her rain slicker and her rubber boots and headed for the
seasonal creek that runs across our backyard in wet years. She
kneeled by that weak trickle for hours rapt in a sense of wonder
that is a child’s special gift.
Lately, the weather has been either raining or simply gray. So,
I decided to follow my daughter’s example last week and make
friends with the rain. I threw my high-tech slicker in the car and
lit out to Castle Rock State Park.
Some time ago, when my daughter was still celebrating single-digit birthdays, she viewed each rainstorm as an opportunity to get outside and play. As the first drops fell, she ran for her rain slicker and her rubber boots and headed for the seasonal creek that runs across our backyard in wet years. She kneeled by that weak trickle for hours rapt in a sense of wonder that is a child’s special gift.
Lately, the weather has been either raining or simply gray. So, I decided to follow my daughter’s example last week and make friends with the rain. I threw my high-tech slicker in the car and lit out to Castle Rock State Park. I turned west onto Saratoga Avenue off of U.S. Highway 85 and kept going up, up to Skyline Boulevard at the crest of the peninsula hills. Two and a half miles after turning left on Skyline, I arrived at the parking lot on the right side of the road.
Saratoga Gap Trail descends from the parking lot along a narrow crease carved by Kings Creek, which will eventually join the San Lorenzo River on its journey to downtown Santa Cruz. I was now in the midst of the clouds that had been high overhead when I was down in the valley. Falling rain, the dense forest canopy and the low clouds down among the trees all combined to create a magical and mysterious aura that brought to mind the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest.
The trail descends through a forest of tanoaks, Douglas firs and madrones highlighted by some very impressive specimens. Keep an eye out for one madrone by the trail that must reach 80 feet — the largest one I can ever remember seeing.
After a half mile, the trail crossed the creek. Shiny leaves of wild ginger carpeted the creek bank here. I will have to remember to return later in the season to see their unusual red-brown blossoms.
At the trail fork just past the creek crossing, I stayed on the Saratoga Gap Trail, which quickly leads to the Castle Rock Falls overlook. The platform there is perched at the crest of the 75-foot falls. The falls and the continuing steep drop of the landscape reveal a great vertigo-inducing exposure.
The falls signal a new steep drop in the terrain, which forces the trail to leave it behind and contour across the slope. Chaparral species suddenly replace the rainforest-like landscape, and vistas to the south and west open up across a dramatic scene. Along this section of the trail, I chatted with another hiker, who has walked it in better weather and confirmed my suspicion that one can see the ocean from here on clear days. But the ebb and flow of the clouds across the thickly forested ridges below presented great drama in exchange for what it shrouded.
Rocks, probably the park’s biggest attraction, now took center stage. Saratoga Gap Trail crosses well below impressive Goat Rock, one of the many major outcroppings that attract rock climbers to Castle Rock. I doubled back toward home on the Ridge Trail, which returns to Goat Rock at its top. The numerous rock formations at Castle Rock Park have strangely smooth rounded recesses that look like voids created by air bubbles that formed in the rock as it hardened.
On a higher track, the Ridge Trail returned me to Kings Creek. Up the trail, I took the side trip to the park’s namesake, Castle Rock, a large outcrop not far from the parking lot.
On summer weekends, this park is busy with hikers and climbers. I enjoyed my weekday walk through a wet moody forest, but I would like to come again for views — and wild ginger blossoms.
