Castle Rock

I did the Castle Rock trail today. There are numerous variations of this hike but we did the out-and-back version instead of the loop. I don’t know the mileage of the hike, but I do know that I’m exhausted. The hike isn’t all that hard, it is basically a moderate to slight incline but the surface was very tough. When we weren’t on loose rock (which was only at the beginning), the surface was very variable. Some spots were slick, slick ice while other parts were packed or unpacked snow. Some sections were sort of hollow, meaning that I broke through a top sheet and my foot sunk about 6 inches, it was pretty scary, luckily there wasn’t any water beneath. But that made the hike a long process. It took about 5.5 hours including a few stops and the climb at the end.

The climb to the top of Castle Rock was actually pretty tough. There were some pretty hairy spots and in the back of my mind was the fact that people had died on this same climb. Luckily they had a fixed rope set up for the toughest part so that made it easier, but not any less scary. Once getting on top it was like the top of the world. We could see for miles and miles and miles. It was awesome. It was relatively clear today and the walk was actually hot at times. I didn’t take a lot of pictures for whatever reason, but just try to imagine the scene. Mt. Erebus was blowing out smoke and steam and we were closer than I’d been yet. To it’s side we could see the glacier that comes down it and meets the water. The glacier edge is 150 feet high but from where we were it looked about a millimeter high. We could see Cape Evans and we could even see the ocean water. From Ob Hill I wasn’t so sure, but from here, I could tell definitively. That was awesome to see. Then we could see everything I’ve mentioned before also. But I’m exhausted now and won’t get into the details. You’ll have to wait.