Castle Rock State Park Legacy
Castle Rock State Park Timeline
Growing a Park and a Legacy
Rising from the peaks of the Santa Cruz mountains, nature’s sculpted sandcastle has drawn people from all around since long before it became the namesake of Castle Rock State Park. The unique “tafoni” sandstone rock formations looming above vistas, waterfalls, and diverse forests have inspired visitors to protect them for nearly 75 years and Sempervirens Fund supporters have been there every step of the way. You and your fellow supporters have created a lasting legacy at Castle Rock State Park. Much like a relay race, each generation has reached back to receive the baton and hand it forward to the next at every major point in the park’s history. Sempervirens Fund supporters have helped to create, expand, and keep Castle Rock State Park open over the decades. From protecting its lands and founding the park in 1968, adding more than 4,000 acres to expand habitat protection and recreational opportunities like building the Skyline-to-the-Sea trail in 1976 to building the modern Robert C. Kirkwood entrance in 2019 to welcome visitors, you have helped us do it all. And we’re not done yet.
We invite you to take a look back at the legacy supporters like you have left at one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s closest State Parks. Join us as we remember every milestone along the journey from the beginning of the park to now, as we look to the next step in completing our shared vision for Castle Rock State Park.
video by Jordan Plotsky
● 1908
photos from Sempervirens Fund's historic archive
The First Piece
Judge James Welch, a member of Sempervirens Fund’s Board of Directors, bought 60 acres of land on Castle Rock Ridge and encouraged people to visit which helped to popularize tourism in the area. One such visitor, Russell Varian, spent much of his youth hiking near Castle Rock and he became so enamored with the area he conducted some of his first measurements of the Earth’s magnetic field there.
● 1959
photo by John Gililand
Protecting the Land
Decades later, after pioneering x-ray and radar technology, Russell Varian and his wife Dorothy, both Sempervirens Fund supporters, secured an option to buy 26 acres in what is now Castle Rock State Park but one week later Russell passed away. Dorothy and fellow supporters helped purchase the land in his memory and later donated it and many other parcels to Castle Rock State Park. Read more about Russell Varian and Castle Rock.
● July 1968
photo from Sempervirens Fund's archive
Creating the Park
Following years of advocacy by Sempervirens Fund supporters and partners, Castle Rock was officially designated as a California State Park in July 1969.
In some ways, Castle Rock State Park made Sempervirens Fund what it is today. After its founding to protect the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz mountains from logging and helping to establish California’s first state park, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Sempervirens Club supporters officially reorganized as Sempervirens Fund in 1968 to refocus efforts on protecting the area now known as Castle Rock State Park and to connect it to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Read more about Castle Rock State Park.
The Early Years
Sempervirens Fund supporter and retired California State Park Ranger Miles Standish who was assigned to California’s original state park nearby, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, before working at Castle Rock shares his recollections about how it all got started:
“Judge Joseph Welch owned the property around Castle Rock when Russell Varian was said to drive up to Castle Rock in the 1930’s to have picnics and enjoy the area. Apparently Judge Welch didn’t mind people coming to the rock on holiday. Later, in the 1950’s, Russell took out an option to buy Castle Rock from the heirs of Judge Welch but died in 1959 from a heart attack before the purchase could be completed. His second wife, Dorothy, and Tony Look, of the Sempervirens Fund, banded together and exercised the option with the help of the Sierra Club. The intent was to give the land to the State of California, but at first the State refused to take the land – presumably because it was too far from Big Basin Redwoods State Park. However, finally, in 1968, the land was transferred and was named Castle Rock State Park. Between 1968 and 1980 there were several rangers assigned to Castle Rock, but when I arrived there were two full time rangers (myself and Larry Thomas ), three P.I. rangers and a park aid assigned to the Park. Later, when the Partridge Farm was added, a full time maintenance worker was added to the staff.”
- Miles Standish, Sempervirens Fund supporter and former California State Park Ranger
● April 1969-1976
photos from Sempervirens Fund's archive
Building the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail
The ambitious Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail to connect Castle Rock State Park over 30-miles to Big Basin Redwoods State Park and down to Waddell Beach and the Pacific Ocean really began when Sempervirens Fund founder Andrew P. Hill bought right-of-way deeds initially intended for a road around 1912—but he may never have guessed how the deeds would bring people to the park nearly 60 years later. In April 1969, 2,500 volunteers from Sempervirens Fund and Santa Cruz Mountains Trails Association helped construct the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail between Castle Rock State Park and Big Basin Redwoods State Park over two days. With the addition of protected lands to make the connection and many generous volunteers and supporters, the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail officially opened in 1976 traveling from the crests of the Santa Cruz Mountains to the crests of waves in the Pacific Ocean through protected wildlands. Read more about the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail
● 1979
Mountain Shadws photo by Alexander Lowry, others from Sempervirens Fund's archive
Expanding the Park
Over the years, Sempervirens Supporters continue to protect land for Castle Rock State Park—ultimately protecting more than 36 properties and expanding Castle Rock State Park by 4,000 acres. But a single property protected in 1979 increased Castle Rock State Park by 50%—Mountain Shadow Ranch. Mountain Shadows Ranch's 730 acres in the Saratoga Gap area brought Sempervirens Fund supporters' total land added to Castle Rock at the time up to 1,131 acres. Many of these supporters are still helping to protect and expand Castle Rock State Park more than five decades later.
● 2011
photo by Phillipe S. Cohen
Keeping the Park Open
When Castle Rock State Park was on a list set for closure to State budget constraints, Sempervirens Fund supporters partnered with fellow organizations Portola-Castle Rock Foundation, Save the Redwoods League, and Peninsula Open Space Trust to donate $250,000 to keep the park open for the public.
A Loving Legacy
While the threat of closure was a pivotal time for all who loved Castle Rock State Park, rock climbers were especially concerned with the potential loss of public access to arguably some of the best rock climbing in the state. Elizabeth Schweinsberg, Sempervirens Fund supporter and Development Committee Chair, shares how her dream of climbing in Castle Rock State Park inspired her to help grow it and how her own milestones have become inextricably linked with the park she loves:
“When I moved here in 2011, I started learning to rock climb right away—it was something I knew I wanted to do. I climbed in the rock gyms with the goal of working up to climbing outdoors at Castle Rock State Park. But state budget issues quickly had Castle Rock State Park on the proposed park closure list. That didn’t make sense to me since Castle Rock State Park is so close to Silicon Valley and millions of other Bay Area residents. That’s how I learned about Sempervirens Fund. They stepped in to pay the salaries of rangers for a year to keep the park open. Wow, that’s really useful, I thought. So, as I began achieving my goal of rock climbing in Castle Rock State Park, I began donating to Sempervirens Fund who helped keep the park open for all of us.
Fast forward to 2015, I got engaged to my husband Lucas and rather than invest in a big rock for my ring I chose to donate to an even bigger rock—Castle Rock. With a portion of the would-be ring cost, we helped to purchase and install the water fountain at the new Robert C. Kirkwood Entrance to Castle Rock State Park. There was no water at the old entrance! So, I knew I’d really appreciate it each time I come to the park. While the new entrance was being built, I helped plant native oaks to restore the landscape to before the heavy human impacts of the last century and a half. That’s why I really value the native plant garden that the Muwekma Ohlone and Amah Mutsun Tribal Bands share at the entrance.
Today, I like to volunteer there every chance I get to help give back to the park that gives so much to me. My husband and I continue to climb and hike there. It is always easy to convince friends to meet there. There are easy hikes and lots of places to climb. Visiting Castle Rock always leads to dirty pants and a good time. I’m excited that we have the opportunity to keep adding to Castle Rock State Park and growing the legacy of people who connect with it!”
-Elizabeth Schweinsberg, Sempervirens Fund supporter and Development Committee Chair
● 2019
photos by 7Roots Creative, Russell Ferretti-Hoyle, Lauren Chavez, and Orenda Randuch
Creating an Accessible and Sustainable Park
Despite being one of the closest state parks for millions of San Francisco Bay Area residents, Castle Rock State Park’s inclusion on the closure list in 2011 underscored the reality that the park’s handful of dirt parking spaces were neither accessible for many people nor allowing for visitorship to sustain the park. Sempervirens Fund supporters helped purchase a 33-acre Christmas tree farm, restore habitat with black oaks and other native plants, and build a modern park entrance that is both accessible for more visitors and sustainable for both the park model and the environment.The park’s new Robert C. Kirkwood Entrance opened in 2019 and offers safe parking lots, a 60-seat amphitheater, accessible paths, trail connections, new restrooms, bicycle racks, water fountain, picnic area, a native plant garden, and electronic pay stations. Since opening, Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks and California State Parks operate the Kirkwood Entrance together and combined with electronic pay stations the entrance is generating revenue helping to make Castle Rock State Park economically sustainable. Visit Castle Rock State Park
● 2023
photo by 7Roots Creative
The Next Additions
After more than a century of work to protect and connect Castle Rock State Park, your support has brought us to the precipice of another major milestone for Castle Rock State Park. For the first time in 12 years, six properties that you helped protect which were identified by California State Parks as priorities to add to Castle Rock State Park are ready to transfer and officially be added to park:
Robert C. Kirkwood Entrance
The park’s new entrance opened in 2019 and offers safe parking lots, electronic pay stations, a 60-seat amphitheater, trail connections, new restrooms, bicycle racks, a native plant garden, and a picnic area. The Native Plants Garden, tended by the Muwekma Ohlone and Amah Mutsun Tribal Bands, shares the importance of local plants and their uses by the Native Americans who lived on the land for centuries.
Sempervirens 236
Nestled between Big Basin Redwoods and Castle Rock state parks, is Sempervirens 236, a 110-acre property Sempervirens Fund purchased in 2010 to protect thick groves of old-growth and second growth redwoods from logging. The property serves as a restoration and wildlife monitoring laboratory in the Santa Cruz mountains, with projects including invasive species removal, restoration forestry, and prescribed burns.
Castle Rock West
One of the last remaining inholdings of Castle Rock State Park, this 50-acre property was purchased by Sempervirens Fund in 2018. Along the western boundary of the trail runs the 31-mile Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail. Read More about Castle Rock West
Saratoga Toll Road Properties
At the headwaters of the San Lorenzo River and along the historic Saratoga Toll Road—one of the first logging roads in the Santa Cruz Mountains—three properties have been protected known as Ahlgren (14 acres), Butler (10 acres), and Gee (5 acres). These three properties, once clear-cut over a century ago, now showcase healthy thriving second growth redwoods.
We’ll keep you posted on this exciting Castle Rock State park development that you, and generations of your fellow supporters, have made possible.
When you protect places like Castle Rock State Park you are protecting access to vistas, waterfalls, and diverse forests—including old-growth redwoods— for the next generation. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do to protect and grow Castle Rock State Park for future generations of plants, wildlife, and people to enjoy for decades more to come!
More to Explore
- Stay tuned for what’s next at Castle Rock State Park by signing up for email below
- Check out our favorite redwood hike in Castle Rock State Park
- Read more about Castle Rock State Park