Bob Burd's Trip Reports

Castle Rock Dec 9, 2023		Etymology	Story	Photos / Slideshow	Map	GPX

Continued...

This is a rocky formation at the edge of Castle Rock Bay on the Arizona side of Lake Havasu, north of Lake Havasu City and near the small desert community of Crystal Bay. I had camped nearby on one of several informal dirt roads in the area. I was up early around 5a because I had about 9hrs of driving to get home today, and hoped to do so before sunset. There is BLM TH parking on the north side of Castle Rock, at the end of a dirt road off paved Vista Dr. Mine was the only vehicle there in the early morning, though I saw several others camping along the road on the drive to the TH. There is no trail leading to the summit, but one can find a class 3-4 route up starting from the southeast side. Once up to a ledge, I walked around to the northeast side before finding my way up the ridge on that side to reach the summit. If there is another way up, I didn't discover it, though I walked the entire perimeter after I'd gotten back down. There was no summit cairn nor register, but it had signs of many visits. Unfortunately I was up and down before sunrise when I would have had better pictures, and it was quite chilly this morning.

After returning to the Jeep, I got ready for the long drive back home. I picked up a last tank of Arizona-priced fuel when I reached I-40, then turned west for the next five hours, driving to Barstow, across the High Desert on SR58, across Tehachapi to Bakersfield and on to I-5. I would eventually make it back to San Jose shortly after 4p and just before sunset. Thank the gods for comfortable seats...