After finally hiking Mount Lassen the day before, we thought it would be fun to try climbing Castle Dome (4,700 feet) in Castle Crags State Park. We also figured this might be our last chance since the park is slated to be closed next year because of California’s budget woes. The most popular hiking route is the Crags Trail which leads to spectacular views from the base of Castle Dome. Our goal was to climb the Regular Route (high Class 3 – low Class 4) to the summit of the Dome, where the view was anticipated to be even bigger! Although Sullivan describes climbing the Dome itself (Hike #98 in his Southern Oregon & Northern California guide (Second Edition)), his description of the actual climbing route isn’t very detailed, so we used the one from SummitPost. It’s not a technical climb in the strictest sense but (as Sullivan says) it’s only for “confident scramblers” – as there are places where a slip could have very tragic consequences.
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BOOTS on the TRAIL 