Saturday, December 8, 2012

Rock Climbing in Castle Rock State Park

Since Alex and I love to rock climb, I was excited to purchase the LivingSocial offer for outdoor rock climbing with an instructor at Castle Rock State Park in Santa Cruz Mountains. Castle Rock has a beautiful collection of large sandstone rocks, which are fantastic for rock climbing and bouldering.

I originally planned to go on November 11, but due to the rain, I had to reschedule for two hours of rock climbing on December 8, 2012, at 1:00 pm. The Castle Rock Climbing School has a policy that they cannot climb for three days after the last rain. This was not unexpected since it rains frequently in the winter in Northern California.

It was cold on December 8 (maybe around 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit) when we drove to Castle Rock from San Jose. When we arrived, there were a few cars already parked there, and I was not sure whether or not the rock climbing instructor was there. Cell phones do not work there, so I could not call him (or anyone else).

Once I found the rock climbing instructor, we picked up all the climbing gear and walked 20 minutes to the first rock he planned to climb. The instructor set up the ropes, and Alex put on his climbing shoes and harness and started rock climbing.

The first climb was not challenging, but it took Alex some time to get used to climbing outdoors without preset handholds. After Alex reached the top, he lay down, and I went next. It was slow for me initially, but then I got the hang of it and reached the top.










The second climb was much more difficult, as the rocks had few natural holds, and it took Alex a few tries to get to the top. Eventually, Alex found a way to the top. Although it was a tiring climb, Alex succeeded in getting all the way to the top!


Alex got a bit hungry from all the rock climbing, so he ate a few Cliff energy bars.






We had a great time rock climbing at Castle Rock and hope to do so again when it warms up. It was a lot of fun!