Today is July 4th - Independence Day for our little American. We talked to Maria, and she said she was looking forward to getting back to California and doing some vigorous workouts - so Tristyn and I decided to do the same - spending the day hiking, biking and enjoying fire works!
I loaded Tristyn in the car and asked him if he wanted to go hiking. The answer was "Yes!"
We drove 30 miles (50 minutes) to Castle Rock State Park. Neither of us had been there before, and I selected it since it was a hot day and wanted to be in the shade.
We paid the entrance fee (since parking was full on the road), and decided to take the Saratoga Gap Trail - 7.3 miles.
We could see right away why this was called Castle Rock - there were all kinds of unique rock formations - and we would see many more as we progressed.
After 1 mile we came to an overlook. You can't tell from the picture, but this balcony hangs out of a rock cropping, and drops about 100 feet straight down. A nice couple with 2 girls (who we would meet later) took our picture.
Leaf reflections on the ground
More massive boulders! The path was tricky at times, as you had to traverse sections like this.
Eventually we came out of the Forest, and we found out why this is called the Saratoga Gap - the trail follows the edge of the ridge line - meaning it is exposed - and very hot. However the views were amazing (You can see the fog over the pacific in the distance)
It was a carpet of trees below us.
It's hard to tell, but the edge of this rock drops down several 100 feet to the trees in the picture above. I didn't expect the path to be like this! I was extra careful with Tristyn on my back.
Very True!
After another mile we stopped for our first snack - juice boxes, fruit, crackers and a granola bar. It was very hot here (but shady).
We spotted this guy shortly after our break
The path for steeper and more precarious. It cut through rocks, and follow the edge of the cliff. In many places it was a sheer drop
But still, lots of good views
The edge drops off completely here too. It was a long ways down!
We stopped a bit further on to put up the sun shade and apply more sunscreen since it was so hot.
Its hard to tell in this photo, but this is looking almost straight down off the edge of the path.
And in this picture you can see the steps carved from the stone, and there are large wires attached to the rock to act as guide lines as you make your way up (since the left is a steep drop)
This picture is from inside a large cave we had to duck through.
We reached the midway point after 3.5 miles, and thankfully the patch turned back into the forest so we were n longer exposed. However, we now had to travel back up the 500 or so feet we just descended :)
We passed through gorves of trees that had a red like bark, and when it peeled off you could see a vibrant green underneath.
We stopped again for another snack. Tristyn perched on a rock.
And helped me check the map to make sure we were going in the right direction
After another mile, we met the couple with 2 girls who took our picture. They were having watermelon, and gave us a slice. It was very good on a hot day. Tristyn even ate some and he dosen't like watermelon that much!
We could occasionally see down to the ridge we had just traveled along.
We came across another patch of huge boulders. Another group we had been trading the lead with took our picture.
It is a well maintained trail, with stairs in places.
As we got close to being back at the parking lot, I let Tristyn walk on his own for a bit, along with his own backpack.
Walking together!
The total hike was 6.02 miles (10 KM), and took us just under 3 hours with the stops.
Link to the GPS Map: http://www.mapmyrun.com/workout/1058254269
We got back to the car, unpacked, had a banana and were on our way. Tristyn offered to drive home.
It took about 2 minutes for him to fall asleep.
We stopped in La Honda/Woodside (Corner of #84 and #35) for some lunch
Can you see the hand in the right of this image making a grab for the burger?
We were both thirsty!
We got home, unpacked and I suggested a trip to the pool. Tristyn was (somewhat) interested in that.
However he did not want to go home :(
We finished the day by BBQing chicken, then we hopped on our bike did a loop of the Shores, and stopped by the bay to watch the fireworks! We got home at 10:15 pm, and he fell asleep immediately.
The End!
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