Castle Crags - Dome + Root Creek Falls 5-4-22

Photos by Barry, Francie and Leslie, Track & Video by Francie

Track download: Castle Crags Dome + Root Creek.gpx

Today, four hikers traveled south to hike in the Castle Crags State Park. We started with temperatures in the low 60s. This hike has a good amount of elevation right from the start so we were doing wardrobe changes fairly quick.

We made our way up and saw some wildflowers along the way. We had views of the Grey Rocks with a high elevation of 7,185' still covered in snow. As we went up farther we left the park boundary and entered the Castle Crags Wilderness. We could see the Castle Dome and Mount Shasta with some newer snow.

We made our way to the usual lunch spot and enjoyed our lunch and spoke to a couple vacationing from England. After lunch, we headed up the trail and climbed the rocks so we could get a closer look at the back side of the dome and a different view of the rest of the crags.

We headed back down the trail until we came to the crossing of the PCT and turned left and went down until we connected to the Root Creek Falls Trail. When we got to the creek, some took the advantage of the cold water and soaked their bandanas. We then headed up the trail that goes to Root Creek Falls. Some work has been done on the trail so it is much easier to follow. This was the 1st time for Nanci and Barry to see the waterfall. We then headed back down to the main trail where we all decided that we should take our shoes off and soak our feet in the very cold water of Root Creek.

We put our shoes back on and returned to the car and were treated to fresh cut watermelon from Leslie. A perfect treat in the near 80 degree weather. Our hike ended up being around 8.3 miles. It was a long day and we returned to Ashland around 6:00 PM. I was happy to have a group of people willing to do all the extra credit of going up the rocks and adding the waterfall at the end.

Francie 

             Rock Creek Falls