After some deliberation, our summer vacation plans settled on a 2-week road trip up through Oregon and Washington. I had not been to Washington at all since I was capable of making memories and was particularly excited to sample its three national parks and Mt St Helens. Careful research and planning turned up over a month of interesting and off-the-beaten-path things to do and as typical I worked to craft a dense day-by-day schedule, subject to reality. Careful packing meant we were prepared for a host of possibilities including rooftop tent car camping, backpacking, packrafting, canyoning, and even rock collecting. We even anticipated potential nightmare scenarios of mosquito swarms after a previous summer's experience in Oregon with a modified screenroom that could be added beneath a car-mounted sunshade.
There were still plenty of unknowns as we left Riverside on the 29th. Would the mosquitos be murderous? Would we find camping spots where we needed them given the frequently over-reserved nature of campgrounds these days? Would the weather cooperate? Would the rivers be too low for packrafting and creeks too high for canyoning?
Unavoidably, the first major hurdle was to traverse our long state as efficiently as possible. Far from my favorite drive, this meant traversing the full length of the Central Valley through long tag-teamed stretches of driving. It was hot and smoggy with few scenic interests (brief and faint views of Sutter Buttes and Mt Lassen) until we past Redding and started climbing through the forest. A fully burning fireball of a semi-truck in the middle of the interstate highway was the surprise highlight- no firefighters or police were on the scene yet and so we joined all the other motorists carefully passing near the center divider, feeling the intense heat instantly radiate into the car as we passed quickly. At the end of the 10.5 hour drive we arrived at Castle Crags State Park, our road trip gateway. We had a brief look at the auxiliary campsite along the Sacramento River before driving through the main campground and selecting a quite nice site (#47) at the campground's edge. After a quick jaunt up the road to the Castle Crag Lookout, we settled into camp and rewarded ourselves with a cold drink, deciding to go for an early start hike up to the granite spires.
In the morning we packed up our camp efficiently and set off for the trailhead at the lookout, only to run into a gate that was not closed the night before. Looking for an explanation, we drove to the park entrance where a sign said the road would be closed starting this day, something we might have appreciated the park rangers communicated to us the evening before. If we still wanted to hike it would mean starting from the entrance trailhead, shifting our hike from the planned 5.6mi/+2200' round trip hike to a 7.1mi/+2700' hike. We deliberated but were packed and ready and so set off.
Most of the hike was a steady climb through dry, uninteresting forest, dodging poison oak on narrow trails and walking some old dirt roads. For only the last 0.8 miles did the trail finally emerge from the pines, then oaks, into the granite wonderland with more expansive views. The end of the trail was really what it was all about, as the photo selection attests to. We only ran into one other couple for the good portion of the hike, accepting the low population density as the consolation for the extra hiking we had to do.
The trail ended fairly abruptly beneath an amphitheater of rock pinnacles and a dramatic cliff-face over Root Creek. I enjoyed the exposure, erosional patterns, cliff-hanging trees, Shasta looking on the horizon, and general uniqueness of the place. We then strolled over to the observation deck area at the base of Castle Crag Dome. I knew there was supposed to be a scrambling route to the top of the dome and was tempted, but looking at it made it clear it would add more time than I hoped and so I passed on the chance.
I brought out my trekking poles for the steep downhill descent. At one point a rattlesnake noisily warned us just off trail. Lizards were seen with almost every step. The day's heat was beginning to build and we were glad to not be one of the many groups we passed just now making the climb up the hill. Back at the car, sweaty, and technically still before our campground checkout time, we returned to the campground to take advantage of the free hot showers. This was perhaps the best idea we had for the day, leaving us clean and refreshed for surprisingly trafficked driving through the height of Oregon (nearly matching our drive time crossing California!). Onward we drove through unpleasant Portland traffic for the south slopes of Mt St Helens. I have no doubt there must be some interesting nooks, crannies, and peak scrambles in the Castle Crags wilderness but for now I was satisfied to poke at its accessible edge.
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