I had seen this large rock from Harris Creek and decided that I would someday like to explore it. It took me quite a few attempts before actually ever making it to the rock.
On the first attempt, Karma and I took our mountain bikes up the trail. It is a fairly short ride on a mountain bike as the trail soon ends and a good knowlege of cross country navigation on foot begins.
I am guessing this area was logged or mined quite extensively in the past. There are remnants of an old road and a lot of cables and old hardware around.
The area after entering the forest is amazingly dense and damp. The immediate change from a desert environment to one with so much moisture is very interesting.
Every once in a while the forest will clear enough to get a view of the rock. This is about where the trail ends and a compass and GPS are handy to stay on target with the rock as cross-country travel by foot is necessary. It's size makes judging distance to it more challenging.
We finally made it to the Rock! This is the back of the rock. On the topo maps it shows a road coming in from this side but I don't think it is accessible anymore due to its closure by private land that it crosses.
I traversed on the ledge out to the end to take some photos of the panorama below. There is some pretty major exposure. I bouldered up the back of the rock as well for a ways but began feeling uncomfortable with the situation so turned back before getting to the top.
From Castle Rock there is a good view of Squaw Butte and the area between Horseshoe Bend and Emmett
I hiked around to the bottom of the rock. The perspective is very interesting given that the rock is so forshortened.
I took a bunch of photos of this old log. I love the patterns and the textures of the forms created both by the wood and the weathering process.