Jennie, Joe and I hiked in Mt. Diablo State Park.
We started our hike at the Mitchell Canyon Road entrance to the
park, near Clayton. Jennie and I (along with others) had done
part of this hike before, hiking past deer flat and then looping
back. This time, however, we would continue past the flat and
all the way to the peak and back.
The hike along Mitchell Canyon Road is steep in places. It's a
wide fire trail which follows Mitchell Creek. The trail isn't
right next to the creek, however. The creek is protected by vegetation
which doesn't grow on the fire trail, leaving us unshaded much
of the way. We passed an older couple along the way. When we told
them we were going to the top, the gentleman said we should have
gotten an earlier start. It was about 11am at this time, but I
figured we had plenty of time. I estimated 8 hours for the hike,
and the sun wouldn't set until 8:30pm. Still, this did mean we
did the bulk of the climbing during the hottest part of the day.
I wouldn't do this in July or August!
View from the trail
These trees were plentiful in the meadows; this one is next to
the switchbacks on the way up
Hills
As we climbed the gentle switchbacks higher and higher, we got
better and better views of Mitchell Canyon and Clayton in the
distance. Wildflowers dotted the side of the trail. Blooming trees
were placed here and there along the side, as well. A handful
of hikers and a few mountain bikers passed us. Soon we found ourselves
at Deer Flat, where we rested on some stumps while Joe made his
first moleskin attachments.
Whereas before we'd turned left and started the loop back, this
time we turned right onto Deer Flat Road and continued up, up
toward Juniper Campground. More switchbacks lead us up a steep
climb. We stopped briefly to let a ranger drive past us. When
we reached the top of the switchbacks and went over the ridge,
we had a view to the northwest of Ygnacio Valley and Walnut Creek.
The trail is mostly flat from here on to Juniper Campground. As
the winds began to pick up, we enjoyed the views to the west.
We stopped here at a picnic table and had lunch. The campground
and picnic table are very close to South Gate Road. After lunch,
we continued along the Juniper Trail, which is singletrack which
skirts the road. Grasses and occasional thorns tugged at our socks.
Below, we could hear what sounded like some sort of event -- voices
sounded out over a public address system, next to a parking lot.
This may have been the Diablo Country Club, but I'm not sure.
The unfortunate thing about the Juniper Trail is that it heads
down. Unfortunate? Well, that meant that we'd be doing even more
climbing to recoup the altitude we'd lost. We ended up losing
about 200 feet of elevation before we started climbing again.
The trail goes in and out of the trees crossing South Gate Road
and turning into the Summit Trail.
We passed a large water tank and came to a campground at the intersection
with Green Ranch Road. There's water and outhouses here. Beyond
the campground, the trail climbs through a maze of 6-foot high
bushes. The ground is covered almost completely by small rocks.
We saw one biker come down the trail, though I'm not sure if he
belonged there -- it seemed very dangerous to me.
Sign at Devil's Elbow -- 46 miles to go! (yes, it really says
that)
We reached Devil's Elbow, where we had a great view of the summit
building a few hundred vertical feet above. Shortly, we reached
the lower parking lot, turned right, and headed up the trail right
between the two roads which go between the summit and the parking
lot. It's a pleasantly shaded, not too steep trail, in contrast
to the 17 percent graded pavement on either side. When we emerged
from the bushes, we were standing next to a communication tower,
with a great view of the mountains and valleys to the south. From
there it was a few more steps to the interpretive center. I believe
this museum is new to the summit. It has some very nice displays,
including a 3-d topographic map which showed us where we'd been
and where we still had to go. We'd basically circled the western
flank of the mountain, and would descend along the eastern side,
doing a big counterclockwise circle.
Me and Jennie at the top
We enjoyed the view from the top (elevation 3849), refilled our
water bottles, used the restroom facilities, and enjoyed a snack.
Many people who'd driven to the top milled about enjoying the
views. But we were soon (at about 3:40pm) on our way down.
We retraced our steps back down to Devil's Elbow, then turned
left onto the North Peak Trail. This is more singletrack, in and
out of the bushes. We had a view of the North Peak (elevation
3557) much of the way. We again had to share the trail with mountain
bikers. While they are allowed on this stretch of trail, I wouldn't
ride it myself -- too narrow, with too many other users, and a
lot of blind turns.
Rocky hillside
At Prospectors Gap we were faced with the Prospectors Gap Road
fire trail, or the narrow singletrack Bald Ridge Trail. Both would
take us to the same place, but we took the Bald Ridge Trail. By
numbers it would appear slightly less steep, and we wouldn't have
to worry about mountain bikers. Unfortunately, it was also very
narrow and brushy. It's a very sparsely used trail, and the undergrowth
scratched and clawed at us every step of the way, while the small
rocks and loose dirt tried to take our feet out from under us.
Not only that, but the trail went up and down. Nevertheless, we
soon found ourselves on top of the bald (i.e., brushless) ridge,
and it was decent going the rest of the way down to Murchio Gap.
Prospectors Gap Road, we would find, would actually descend below
Murchio Gap before climbing back up to it. Still, given the choice
again, I think I'd choose Prospectors Gap Road. The Bald Ridge
Trail reminded me too much of the Brushy Peaks trail (see Bald
Mountain hike).
We viewed the Eagle Peak trail, then continued down the Back Creek
Trail. This starts off wide, about 5 feet wide, with wooden steps.
But it, too, soon deteriorates into a narrow, brushy, steep, eroded
trail. We basically encountered almost no one from Prospectors
Gap to Back Creek Road. I doubt these trails are much used!
The Back Creek Trail follows, of course, Back Creek, crossing
it a few times. Bugs buzzed us most of the way, causing our skin
to crawl. They were apparently harmless, however, as I don't have
any evidence of bug bites -- despite walking through dozens of
them at a time. Near the bottom we reached Back Creek Road, a
fire trail which would take us out to the open meadows again.
From there it was left onto Coulter Pine Trail, back to the Mitchell
Canyon parking lot.
It was a long hike, with some nice vistas. I wouldn't want to
repeat the Bald Ridge or Back Creek trails, though. The park offers
a lot more trails I haven't explored yet, and it would be nice
to visit again...perhaps in winter sometime when the top gets
a dusting of snow.
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