Castle Rock State Park
Saratoga / Los Gatos, Santa Cruz Mtns · near Saratoga · SF Bay Area
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- loop
- Distance
- 5.5 miles
- Elevation gain
- 1,100 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Year-round · Spring for Castle Rock Falls flow, fall for clear air
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- State Park day-use parking ~$10 at the main lot; free roadside at Saratoga Gap. Dogs not allowed on trails.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Tafoni sandstone formations & caves · Castle Rock Falls overlook · Goat Rock climbing area · Douglas-fir forest · Skyline-to-the-Sea eastern trailhead
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Do the loop clockwise (Saratoga Gap Trail out to the falls, back on the Ridge Trail) for good light; the falls trickle by late summer, so come after winter rain.
The guide
The most distinctive geology of the range: honeycombed sandstone 'tafoni' boulders and Castle Rock itself, a magnet for climber…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Castle Rock State Park — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.2306, -122.0956