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| Bloo & Git selfie |
On a ridge, overlooking the valley....how nice!
Nestled in the Santa Cruz Mountains, this beautiful State Park offers several trails that give you grand views of the San Lorenzo Valley, San Lorenzo River watershed and on a clear day, the Pacific ocean and Monterey Bay.
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| San Lorenzo River watershed |
If you follow the Saratoga Gap Trail from the main parking lot for 3/4 of a mile, you will reach Castle Rock Falls. It is not an overly impressive waterfall, but the view to the south from the observation platform is quite spectacular. The waterfall is up-canyon and is fed by Kings Creek. Part of the Saratoga Gap Trail leading up to the platform walks along the creek so you'll see the water flowing through the shaded, quiet woods before cascading over a 100-ft rock face to the canyon below. Down-canyon, to the south, you'll get a panoramic view of the San Lorenzo Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains.
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| Castle Rock Falls |
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| A rock climber below the falls, setting-up for a climb up the rock face below the observation platform |
The loop we did kept us going on the Saratoga Gap Trail, continuing past the observation platform and falls, and headed toward the Castle Rock Campground. At the Castle Rock Trail Camp we stopped and ate our sandwiches and snacks at one of the picnic tables. The site has potable water spigots available and bathrooms. Ryan and I had a civil engineering moment by talking at length about the two concrete potable water reservoirs we saw on site and other interesting components such as fire protection, well supply and water quality haha.
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| Skink |
After eating, we left the campground and connected to the Loughry Woods Trail which lead us back to the parking lot we had parked in which was about a 0.5 mile away from the main State Park parking lot. This was the end of our hike, however this trail does continue on further across the road after the parking lot and makes a loop back to the main entrance of the park. The Loughry Woods Trail was much more shaded than the Saratoga Gap Trail as you walk under the cover of the Oak and Pine trees as you traverse up the mountain ridge.
The Saratoga Gap Trail consists more of Chaparral covered mountainside. I did not know what Chaparral was until last Saturday, but it is a shrub-land or heath-land plant community found primarily in California. Mainly thicket, shrubbery and small trees. However, in the first part of the trail and scattered throughout Castle Rock SP you'll see Redwood, Douglas-fir, Oak and Madrone trees.
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| Chaparral covered mountainside |
Our hike was about 6 miles and varied from easy to moderate. Some parts of the trail are very exposed to the sun/elements so sunblock or sun protection is recommended. No dogs are allowed at this State Park. Great views, local and easy to get to, highly recommend.
