On Wednesday we had 6 people come out to hike the trail starting in the Castle Crags State Park and ending up at the dome located in the Castle Crags Wilderness. It is considered the most challenging trail in the park.

It was already a warm 60° when we started our hike shortly before 10 AM. We saw some Wild Ginger blooming and some Indian Warriors. We passed the trail that leads to Root Creek Falls and headed upwards. In a short time, we crossed the PCT. The trail is steep so we took some breaks to look around and catch our breath. As we went upwards, we could see the Grey Rock Mountains covered in snow. Then we had our first views of the Castle Crags.

When we reached the Indian Springs trail, we hiked out a bit to get some fabulous unobstructed views and photos of the crags. We then returned to the trail and hiked a bit farther up. When we reached the park boundary, we took photos of Mount Shasta and the Castle Dome.

We continued up the trail making our way through rocks and plant and tree roots. We eventually made it to our lunch spot and enjoyed the sunshine. After lunch, we continued up the trail to the base of the dome. Nanci, Barb and myself climbed up a bit in the rocks. The views were amazing.

We came back down the trail and had a nice young man take our group photo with the dome and Mount Shasta in the background. We made our descent much faster and made it back to the cars by 2:45pm. We had hiked 6 miles and gained 2108 feet of elevation.