THE CASTLE CRAGS

We got up at first light on Tuesday. We packed up quickly and made breakfast in the picnic area. Then we drove back down to the town of Mount Shasta and continued on to Castle Crags State Park. We paid the $7 entrance fee and drove up the long, narrow road to the Castle Crags Trailhead. There were only a few cars in the parking lot, which was a bit of a relief. I’d been surprised at how crowded the other destinations in the area were.

We started with a short, easy warm up hike to an overlook of the Castle Crags and Mount Shasta. Then we returned to the parking area before starting up the trail to the Castle Crags. We climbed through the woods, initially on a gentle trail. We crossed the Pacific Crest Trail and began a long, steep climb. Along here we passed out of the State Park and into the Castle Crags Wilderness Area. Eventually the trees thinned, and we reached the first rock formations. There were some good views of Mount Shasta along here. We stopped for lunch at a nice viewpoint. Christy decided to stop there, as she was already worried about hiking back down the steep trail we had already traversed. She decided to hang out there for a bit while I finished the hike.

Christy chose wisely. The next stretch of trail was steep and rugged, with a lot of bad footing. It was worth it though. Before long I found myself below an incredible wall of jagged cliffs. The official trail ended, but numerous scramble paths continue on. I picked a group of cliffs at random and headed up. From the top, I was treated to great views. I eventually got cliffed out, so I dropped back down before working my way towards the base of Castle Dome. Initially I didn’t see a plausible route up. Instead, I worked my way over to another cliff at the head of a steep gully. It was a long way down from there! I thought it was a dead end, but then I noticed a narrow passage under a fallen rock. I crawled through and emerged on a narrow ledge at the brink of a cliff. What a thrilling spot! I followed the ledge as far as I could before doubling back.

I was on my way back down when I spotted the route up Castle Dome. I was tempted, but it was getting late and Christy was waiting on me. Plus, the upper part of the route looked tricky. Maybe next time.

I hiked back down fast, but Christy was waiting for me at the car. We drove out of the park and headed north on I-5. We passed right by Mount Shasta and enjoyed many great views of the snow-covered volcano. We drove on to Medford, Oregon, arriving there at 5pm. We went downtown to Beerworks. Christy had found this place on her Gluten-free app. Apparently they had some gluten-free beers in stock. She tried several beers from Ghostfish Brewing Company (Seattle, WA) and loved them. I enjoyed a couple of draft beers myself. We ordered pizza from a local place and had it delivered to the bar. It turned out to be one of the more enjoyable meals of the trip. We only spent a couple of hours in Medford, but the place had a cool vibe. We’ll spend more time there next time.

We picked up some beers for Christy to go and drove back into California. Next on the agenda was Crescent City and Redwoods National Park. We had reservations at the Mill Creek Campground in Del Norte Coast Redwood State Park. It’s a good thing, as we arrived well after dark. Driving into the park in the dark was cool. We couldn’t see the giant trees, but we could sense them, towering over us, looming next to the road.

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