Castle Rock State Park—Ridge Trail

Hike Review

• I’ve hiked at this park numerous times, with the most recent being this one from last year.

Warm Up (V0, Magoo Boulder)—While hiking the Castle Rock loop, I gave this route a go with my hiking shoes. I surprised myself by making it up pretty easily!

What I Learned

This was the hardest hike the kids had gone on and it showed in the last two miles—they were lethargic and not as happy as usual. Still, they were determined as I promised them a prize if they completed 8 miles of hiking in a day (earlier in the day we had walked 1.4 miles when we walked to a breakfast place).

What Happened?

6.7 miles, 5 hrs 23 mins, 1516 ft of ascent

I had given a challenge to the girls last year where if they completed a 16-mile hike, I’d buy them a grand prize. To help them get there, I also gave them smaller challenges—with smaller prizes—for 8-mile and 4-mile hikes.

On this particular Sunday, my eldest was determined to earn her 8-mile prize and we were off to complete this almost 7-mile hike even though she wasn’t feeling the best in the morning. We started off this loop in good spirits and were awed by the natural beauty of the Santa Cruz mountains. The creeks were flowing, trees were green, and moss were abound everywhere.

When we got to Goat Rock, we climbed to the top and hung out for a bit to enjoy the sun. There were three Korean hikers who were there and we helped them up so that they could enjoy it with us. We then hiked to the backpacking camp while stopping at almost every optional points of interest. At the camp, we took a bathroom break while holding our breaths (it really wasn’t too bad).

Then we hiked back and enjoyed the interesting trails (the girls did so by writing their initials on every patch of sand they could find) and the awesome views. We then hiked the optional 1-mile loop around Castle Rock to hit the mileage for the girls to earn their prize. The girls were pooped, but they were excited about the prize they had earned—I was very proud the girls had wanted something and had worked hard to earn it.