Castle Crags

On a gorgeous day in May, the Monday AHG hikers took on the challenging 2,000′ Crags Trail and made it to Castle Dome. This was the first time the Monday group had hiked in the Castle Crags State Park.

We loaded 8 hikers into two suv’s and jumped on I-5 south for the 90 minute drive to the park. After paying the $7 day pass fee, we drove 2.1 miles to the Vista Point parking. It was 65 degrees and partly cloudy so we left the jackets in the cars.

You actually take a short walk down from parking to get to the TH for the Crags Trail. It’s 2.8 miles up to the base of Castle Dome. You’re in a dense forest with plenty of shade as you start the steady climb up. The trail is soft in the forest with lots of pine needles but becomes rocky when you leave the forest and start up the Crags.

There weree several wildflowers to enjoy along the trail including Death Camus, marbled leaf Wild Ginger, Klamath and Yellow Iris, Pussy Toe Buckwheat, and the Phantom Orchid.

On the way up, we saw the snow covered Grey Rocks to the west. And later, as the clouds lifted, we could see Lassen to the southeast and many spectacular views of Shasta!

Half of our group were veterans of this hike and half including yours truly were first timers. We took our time going up with stops for water and wardrobe adjustments.

At 1.5 miles up, there’s the turn off to the left for Indian Springs. There you can get stream water if you have a filter and rest in the shade. We decided to plow ahead as we had momentum for the final mile. After climbing up the rocky trail by North Dome , we settled down for lunch at the base of Castle Dome.

After our rest stop, we continued up Castle Dome past the Trail End sign to a spot where you can crawl through on your hands and knees to get a great panoramic view of Mt Shasta to the east and more Crags to the north.

We took our time following the steep rocky trail going back down and enjoyed the shady forest as the afternoon temps had risen 10 degrees to 75.

On this glorious and exciting hike, we had gone 6+ miles RT with 2000’+ of gain.

We decided to stop for refreshments at Yak’s Cafe in Dunsmuirs just 8 miles from Castle Crags SP.
Crags Trail to Castle Dome – California | AllTrails

Note: By chance, on this day, Joe Senter took another carload of hikers on another hike in the Castle Crags.

Hike Leader: Rich Stickle

Photos By: Jerry, Patricia, Rich