Castle Rock Park is popular with rock climbers. At the Falls, there's a viewing platform with a cliff below it that goes straight down...wayyy straight down. Three guys cheering on their lady friend climbing up. We watched till she slipped at the top and fell back. (She was belayed so (says here) perfectly safe, but who wants to watch people fall off cliffs, even if it's only a few inches?)

Sept 29. Often I go hiking with L&P. We try to go to a different place every time. There must be a hundred options within an hour of home for hiking, in all different directions. This time, though, I went hiking with friend LC, and didn't even mention to L&P that I was going hiking. Decided literally at the last minute to hike at Castle Rock, so no one knew where I was headed. Roll the cameras...

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elf1 > LC & I set out around 1:30 on another perfect hiking day. Castle Rock has some lovely, ginormous (that's for Steph) sandstone rocks sculpted by weather or maybe aliens. LC peers into a cave-like substance.

elf1 > The textures and colors and shapes of the sandstone fascinate me.

elf1 > A rock pillar with a cave behind it.

elf1 > Castle Rock Park is popular with rock climbers. At the Falls, there's a viewing platform with a cliff below it that goes straight down...wayyy straight down. Three guys cheering on their lady friend climbing up. We watched till she slipped at the top and fell back. (She was belayed so (says here) perfectly safe, but who wants to watch people fall off cliffs, even if it's only a few inches?)

elf1 > Speaking of falls--the Falls themselves had barely a trickle of water (dark streaks on the rock at the bottom of the frame). My camera is pointed almost straight down to take this photo.

elf1 > Two weekends ago, from Jack's Peak, we looked north across Monterey Bay towards this side. This week, we're looking south across Monterey Bay (in the far distance) towards Monterey.

elf1 > LC and me on a bridge on the trail. Self-portrait.

elf1 > Autumn poison oak adds a splash of color to the layers of greens fading into distant blues. Hard to believe that on the other side of this ridge behind us live nearly two million people*. We passed maybe only two to three dozen people in a two-and-a-half-hour hike.
*Estimated Santa Clara County population.

elf1 > Monterey Bay and Monterey beyond, away and away.

Castle Rock Park is popular with rock climbers. At the Falls, there's a viewing platform with a cliff below it that goes straight down...wayyy straight down. Three guys cheering on their lady friend climbing up. We watched till she slipped at the top and fell back. (She was belayed so (says here) perfectly safe, but who wants to watch people fall off cliffs, even if it's only a few inches?)