Castle Rock Park Ride

 A good 4+ mile ride with about 400+ ft of elevation to climb. Some of it incredibly steep! Hard to even walk up, but hella fun to ride down.

The trail for the most part was pretty wide, but there were a few singletrack sections. This one was a little fun because of the drop off to the left.

As you were going down the singletrack this was the view to the left. This is the best time of the year as everything is green. I'll ride here again in a week, or so and everything will be yellowish and golden.

This rock was where the elevation started to change. I rode along the valley for about 8/10ths of a mile and then things started to get fun. The trail is not very technical to ride, there were some washouts from the rain and some big flat rocks to navigate around. Easy enough for those just starting out, but very challenging with the climb.

I was trying to show the change in elevation. This part though was very timid compared to some of the sections of the trail. The right is the trail where I came from and on the left is the trail that keeps going up.

These are the foothills of Mount Diablo. I have heard that Mount Diablo is one of two spots that you can see  such an incredible distance. The surrounding land is all flat farm land. You can see the Golden Gate Bridge and all the way to the Mountains surrounding Tahoe. The rock formations were fun to look at as I caught my breath.

If you look in the bottom center of this pic    ^    that is the trail I rode to the big rock which then I started the huge climb. But wow this had a great view. I was lucky enough to frame it with my bike. Didnt know it would turn out to be such a good shot.

This last pick is of Mount Diablo, but it also shows how steep the path drops off down and to the left. The 29er Guardian does climb incredibly well. I am starting to get some of my riding habits back and the legs are working a little better. I cant wait to keep exploring as there are more trails in this park and a few other parks close by that I can get to and ride. Ah what a journey I have begun....