Nice, long walk through popular trails in two adjacent parks: Sanborn and Castle Rock.

Location: Sanborn Skyline County Park — Castle Rock State Park

» Official Trail Map: Good quality map showing various trails.

» Redwood Hikes Map: Bay Area Trail Map: Saratoga to Big Basin, First edition, 2010. This is an excellent map sold by Dave Baselt ($6.95 in Dec 2011). This map is useful for exploring many parks in this area. Highly recommended for avid hikers.

To Castle Rock Entrance (4.7 miles): From the parking lot near Sanborn Park HQ, follow Sanborn Trail (1.0 + 1.2 + 0.6 miles) → Skyline Trail (1.6 miles) to reach a point directly across Castle Rock park entrance. Turn right and follow a short trail (0.15 miles) to reach Indian Rock. The rock can be circumnavigated by following a trail that goes around it. Indian Rock is an interesting rock structure, worthy of exploration. Return by the same trail (0.15 miles) to Highway 35 (Skyline Blvd).

Castle Rock Loop (5.4 miles): unnamed trail (0.5 miles) → Ridge Trail (1.8 miles) → Saratoga Gap Trail (2.0 miles) → unknown Trail (0.5 miles) → Castle Rock (0.6 + 0.2 miles) to return to park entrance.

To Sanborn Park HQ (4.5 miles): From Castle Rock park entrance, cross Hwy 35 (Skyline Blvd) and turn right onto Skyline Trail (1.6 miles) → left on Sanborn Trail (0.6 miles) → San Andreas Trail (1.5 + 0.4 + 0.4 miles) to parking lot.

Location: near Youth Science Institute, 16055 Sanborn Road, Saratoga, CA 95070 . Parking area is not visible in Google Maps.

Directions: From Hwy 85, take exit 14 for Saratoga Ave, going south and drive 1.8 miles. Continue onto CA-9 (Big Basin Way) and drive 2.5 miles. Turn left onto Sanborn Road and drive 0.7 miles to reach Park HQ.

Google Maps:

Parking Fees: $6 vehicle entrance fees after 8am (last visited: July 2010)

Capacity: Dozens of cars may be parked inside the park.

Latitude: 37.240752     Longitude: -122.067086