The BLT Guidebook

Castle Crags State Park is about a 4 hour trip from the heart of the east bay. The park is one of California’s 280 state parks and is filled with rich Californian and geological history. It’s an easy and peaceful drive up the I-5 corridor and it is only 20 minutes from the town of Mount Shasta, making it the perfect camping trip if you want a nice vibe, outdoor recreation, and close proximity to restaurants and shopping.

Last Spring, Dan, our friend Liz, and I did a short weekend stint up in the mountains. This would be Liz’s first camping trip! It was a long drive for a weekend trip, but it was worth it.

Friday Night

We couldn’t leave until the afternoon, so we set up camp around 5 or 6 o’ clock at night. The Castle Crags State Park Campground was quiet- almost every site was full, but it each site was spaced out away from your neighbors. This can be ideal depending on if you like to socialize during trips or not. Our site was a small plateau surrounded by trees.

The campground has two loops-upper and lower and some PCT-designated camping. Yes, this the PCT runs through Castle Crags! We were somewhere in the in-between.

That night, we grilled food, played Cards Against Humanity, and enjoyed time around the campfire- you know, regular camping things!

Saturday

We woke up to perfect temperatures for May- May in this area can be hot with the summer approaching. It was around 75 degrees- making it perfect hiking weather.

The nice part of having longer days and staying in a campground with hiking trails is you can relax in the morning and you don’t have to rush anywhere. We cooked breakfast and had a morning fire before we took off for our daily recreation- Dan split off to go fishing in the Sacramento River and Liz and I walked up through the campground to this one lane road to the trailheads.

The road goes to what is called Vista Point. If you drive up it, you can take a short walk (~0.5 miles) to an overlook that presents you with Castle Crags and Mt. Shasta.

We chose to take *Crags Trail and head to Castle Dome, which AllTrails lists as a 5.2 out and back trail. On the trail, we realized that it is a bit longer than that to get up to the actual Dome. We followed the map to an overlook, but the trail was a bit longer to the Dome. This mileage combined with our mile walk up and back from the campground landed us around a ~7-7.5 mile trek.

*Note: the full trail report will be in a future blog post.

The Crags Trail winds through trees and your view is shielded for most of the trail- I would say until the last mile or so then it opens up to the forested tree tops and the beautiful granite monolith. While researching this park, I came across California’s full Geo Gem report– check it out to find more information about Castle Crags geology and other state parks.

The top felt like an accomplishment and the trek down was semi-easier. When you hike mostly uphill, you may find yourself sliding a bit on graded trails.

Afterward, we earned a much-needed after hike beer, so we met up with Dan and the three of us headed into downtown Dunsmuir- less than a 10 minute drive away. Dunsmuir is one of our favorite towns for many reasons- mostly due to it’s low-key and gorgeous outdoor opportunities in Dunsmuir itself and it’s surrounding area.

Dunsmuir Brewery Works was our in-town stop. We love that this brewery has a few signature beers that don’t disappoint. They also have the best food to go along with it!

Sunday

Normally Dan and I would hit the road early, but we didn’t want to waste the weekend or the beautiful weather. After having a leisurely morning, we packed up and headed down the road to Sims Flat Campground, which is 10 minutes south of Castle Crags.

Dan wanted to get some fishing in, so Liz and I took photos from the bridge and hung out in the day use area with books in hand until we wrapped up for the day.

Honorable Mention

• Fall River Brewing Co. is a must visit for all beer lovers. Their first taphouse in Redding, CA was built a little under 10 years ago, and it is a must-visit whenever Dan and I are in the area. On the way to Castle Crags, we were able to visit their brewery. It was a warehouse-type with picnic tables and a beer bar inside. It was very family-friendly, too. Plus, the beer is always a good choice.

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What is your favorite state park to camp in? Let me know!