This park has great hikes and rock climbing. Camping here is not the best as the grounds are exposed. Find a campground elsewhere and just drive to the park.
Easy to get to from Cupertino. Nice for day hiking with very interesting rock formations. Beautiful views from Goat Rock and a scenic hike getting there. Clearly marked trails.
Just a light hike up and you are in the midst of wonderful rock formations. Fantastic hike for kids and adults.
This is a great area to hike. We took the longer trail (5.8 miles round trip) to the campground. You can see Santa Cruz Mountains along the way and the views are spectacular. There are some sections of the trail that have tricky footing, so be careful.There are free parking outside the entrance of the park. If you arrive slightly late and all the free parking lots are taken up, you can park at the entrance of the park for $8.
This is a must for anybody visiting the Santa Cruz mountains. First parking is bad on weekends. The lot fills up quick, $8 to park i think. I always park on the side of the road,no fee. Even for a short hike you must see the rock formations. Hard to believe that where made by the ocean. If you want to hike longer you can go to the 90 foot falls, not a lot of water most of the time but still pretty cool. A trip to Goat Rock will give you some great views of the Santa Cruz mountains and the ocean. A hike to the campground and back will give you the total experience with more spectacular views, I think about 6 miles round trip. This place is also a rock climbers paradise, from small formations to large ones. Enjoy!!
This is a really cool area if you're looking to do some low-key hiking and high-ball bouldering in central California. Decent variety on the boulders here, from V0 up to V-impossible. It's sandstone so it doesn't have the best surface or durability but it's a fun bouldering area and it's really cool to check out even if you aren't a boulderer. Just the fact that there's a 50-foot sandstone boulder with tons of caves and plenty of smaller boulders at the top of a hill is reason enough to visit this lesser-known gem.Park in the 'lot' on the side of the road just outside the state park to avoid having to pay the entrance fee if you're feeling cheap. Just don't park outside the allowable area as they're rumored to ticket here.
I lived here in these mountains for most of my life. It is truly a beautiful place. It's nice to come out for a walk any time of year. Plenty of green, trees, and boulders. It is a nice getaway close to town.
We like to go to Castle Rock State Park and do hiking there. There is over 32 miles of hiking and horse back riding trails. The park is pretty with redwoods, Douglas-fir, and madrone. There are steep canyons with unusual rock formations. These rock formations are very popular with rock climbers. We enjoy watching them do their climbs.
I hiked Castle Rock State Park for the second time with my cousin, his wife and her dad and we had a great time exploring the area, enjoying the trees, nature and great views.I highly recommend going here and enjoying a few hours in the Santa Cruz mountains.
Castle Rock State Park is isolated enough to make you feel blissfully alone, yet not isolated enough to make getting there a hassle. There are many varying hikes you can take there, from a short one to Castle Rock or Castle Rock Falls or a longer one to the campground (5.8 miles round trip). The views are spectacular, as you