Hike at Castle Rock, Los Gatos

In September 2006, I got another chance to visit California, US for business purpose. On the first weekend, I got the chance to do my first hike of the season as well as first one in the US.

Four of us from Persistent, staying at the same hotel, and three more guys from Persistent in other cities in Bay Area planned for the hike at Castle rock. We reached the place around 11:30 am and started the hike.

Weather was pretty cold insite the jungle but once we started the hike, our bodies warmed up and then the pull-over which I had put, started feeling a bit problematic. Anyway, lead by one of american, we walked through the jungle and reached the Goat Rock, where many people were doing rock climbing. The view from that place was pretty great.

Then from the Goat Rock, we went ahead and reached the campsite, had some protien bars and then started the return journey. Comparetively it was more exposed, but no dangerous. Took many snaps, but because of the haze around and lack of good lense and fitlers with my digicam, many didn't come up that good as per my expectation. You can have a look at few of comparitively good pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/milind.limaye. Also, more information about the hike could be found at http://www.bahiker.com/southbayhikes/castlerock.html .

After we finished the main hike and were close by the parking lot, we finally saw the route to Castle Rock. But after the 5.2 mile walk (about 8.4 km), 4 guys decided to go back to parking instead of going towards the Castle rock, a walk of about 1 Km.

So, four of us went there, tried to do some rock climbing and then came back to the parking lot. We were also tired, but luckily we there was one more short cut to the parking lot from the rock. Though, the hike was not that tough, it was good enough to go out and enjoy the weekend than staying at the hotel room.

Some differences I observed between the hikes in India and US are like a) Hike trails are well marked b) People are more eco-friendly and dont litter the area with plastic and other stuff. c) You would find maintained restrooms at the start of the trail. d) In many parks, you may have to pay some fee to the government (in our case, we did not have to)  e) Only specific areas where you can put your tents for camping.

Though, it's been time after that trek, but finally got some time to put up a blog. I got three more weekend here, but with planned activities, I don't think I will get more chance to do a hike here in this visit. Hope to start my hiking in Sahyadri in december and put more blogs and snaps.

Enjoy -- Milind