Castle Rock Hike

I've done the Castle Rock hike twice now, once on Christmas, and once a few days later. These photos are a mix from both trips. The hike to Castle Rock is the longest hike I am allowed to go on, it's about 7 miles roundtrip. To go on the hike you have to first attend and outdoor safety lecutre. I then had to file an efoot plan online, which basically provided contact information, route plans, and estimated return time. After the efoot plan was filed, I stopped by the firehouse to check out and grab a radio. The hike to Castle Rock is the only hike in which solo travel is not permitted. The search and rescue response process is started if you miss your return time by five minutes.

Two skuas hanging out on the food waste bins.













Part of the trail near town. We had been having warm weather, highs in the low forties, and so the trail conditions were notably different between the two trips.











The bottom of the melt streams actually freeze, which I thought was interesting.

















ULDB happened to launch during my second trip to Castle Rock.












Looking back towards town, you can see the top of Ob Hill in the center left.













One of the two safety shelters. These have blown away in bad weather.













The trail to Castle Rock with Erebus behind it.














The second of the two safety shelters.



























Erebus in the center, Castle rock on the right.













Looking back towards town.


















On Christmas, the Kiwi's were using a Haglund to drive skiers up to the base of Castle Rock.












One the right side of this shot is a glacier. About a decade or so ago, some hikers happened to be out here when a storm came in. They wanted to make it back quickly, and so cut across the glacier. I believe a couple of them died when they fell into a crevasse. Needless to say, it's important to stay on marked trails, but even those are not without risk.






Castle Rock.















































The climb up.



























A view from the top













You can see Mount Discovery in the background, the top of Ob Hill, Scott Base, some pressure ridges, and the road out to Willy Field and LDB all in this one photo.










Almost the same shot, but from further back.













You can make out the second of the apple shelters in this shot.













I believe this is the Taylor glacier flowing down from the Plateau.













On a clear day, the view from the top is pretty spectacular. I will work on stitching together a 360 degree panoramic photo, but I know it couldn't do the view justice.