Bob Burd's Trip Reports

Castle Rock is a large sandstone formation in the Santa Cruz Mtns, the highpoint of the state park that goes by the same name. It is a popular location for rock climbing, bouldering, as well as hiking. The main rock is something like 50-60ft high and offers a number of challenging lines on all sides. The easiest route is class 4. I had been here for rock climbing on several occasions, the last time some 6-7 years earlier with Ryan and a friend of mine. The kids had the day off from school, so I suggested we might invite a friend and head up there, about an hour's drive from our home in San Jose.

There were several folks bouldering on some of the nearby formations, but there was no one on Castle Rock when we got there around 11a. I put on my rock shoes to scramble up the left corner of the front face in order to set up a top rope After rapping down, the kids took turns climbing up into the large cave opening on the front face. After a lunch break, we changed things up to allow all three to reach the top. One by one, I belayed each through the class 4 crux on the left corner, then top roped them up to the summit over the class 3 scramble. After a photo at the top, I lowered each one back down the front face. Good fun, all in about three hours' time.