With April featuring only Mt Diablo hikes, I looked for a change of pace and set my eyes on Black Diamond Mines Regional Park.
But I did take a short morning bike ride to the North Gate of Mt Diablo State Park on the first Saturday of the month. I got a little further than I did the last time, but didn’t really feel like a long ride up the ever climbing road or doing any hiking.
Instead of driving to the other side of the ridge line separating my home from the regular entrances on the Northern side of Black Diamond Mines Regional Park, I decided to try a new approach to the park from Clayton (one of the towns next to me).
The Mt Diablo to Black Diamond trail has a nearby trailhead in Clayton that winds through some nice canyons and hills before entering the park from the West. It’s a little over 2 and a half miles each way, but it was nice to get to the park via a new trail.
Once in the park, I hiked along a ridge that runs along the southern edge of the park. Then it was a decent to the Somersville and Nortonville townsites. Not a lot of structures left from these townsites, but the old cemetery is interesting and some of the mine structures are fun to explore. The Hazel Atlas Mine is the main mine you can go into, but it was closed due to the COVID-19 closures. I’d been in it a couple times already, so I just enjoyed the hike.
On my way back, I got a chance to hike through Coal Canyon for the first time. It was a nice canyon, if a bit narrow.
So, 12 miles of hiking that day with a decent amount of elevation to climbed and descend. A pretty typical weekend hike for me, but after a 13 mile bike ride on Saturday and a 21 mile bike ride on Friday (I just felt like repeatedly extending my ride that morning for some reason and before I knew it, I had done my first bike ride over 20 miles without planning to), May has already been pretty exhausting.
I may try to take it easy on tomorrow morning’s bike ride.
If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Having been disappointed in how far I got up Mt Diablo’s North Gate Road on my bike ride the previous weekend, I decided to try going up again during one of my morning bike rides. I was overjoyed to make it much further and got a full 3 miles into the park to the Burma Road trail crossing. After the long climb, it was nice to coast down most of the way on my way home.
Another weekday morning, I wanted to see how well I could manage going up Treat Blvd over Lime Ridge. This was a bike route I could use to get to Mt Diablo’s Mitchell Canyon staging area. While there was a very steep area that took a lot of pedaling to get over, the rest was fairly enjoyable. Going over to Ygnacio Valley Road to do a nice loop back to home, I proved to myself that I could do the bike ride to Mitchell Canyon for a weekend hike.
Sometimes, I’m a glutton for punishment…
I decide to explore the Mitchell Canyon area of MT Diablo State Park, so had a quick breakfast and then got on my bike and rode up Treat Blvd over Lime Ridge. Like my trial run, I was able to make it up with only a little huffing and puffing.
While Lime Ride was the steepest part, the route climbed slowly as I made my way over Turtle Creak Road and down Mitchell Canyon Road. I was very glad to take a short break at the Mitchell Canyon staging area and fill up my water. I had saved weight in my hiking backpack by not carrying any water except for one bottle of Gatorade to drink on the bike ride.
From here, I decided to go up and enjoy the view from Black Point and then head down to Red Road and Olofson Ridge to cross some more trails off my list.
Despite my early start, it was already very hot by mid-morning and the lingering heat wave that had peaked the day before was still roasting the area. There were two more trails in the area that I’d like to take care of, but after determining that it would mean a 800 foot decent and 1000 foot re-climb in the very hot weather with minimal shade available, I decided to skip them for that day. Due to their locations, it would be tricky to hike them in the future. Maybe I should not have done Black Point first.
Returning to the Mitchell Canyon Staging Area, I took a break for Lunch and found that I was almost out of water. My decision to not do the last two trails was probably a good one.
After getting some rest in the shade, I filled up my water and then did some trails in the immediate area that I had never gotten to hike, mostly since they didn’t go anywhere in particular, but wound through the flatland between the houses in Clayton and the hills of Mt Diablo. Bruce Lee Road and Coulter Pines Trail were the last trails in this area to be crossed off my list.
Then it was a long ride back home in the heat. Fortunately, it was mostly downhill in this direction, so I was able to coast a lot of the way to save my aching feet. I decided to go back via Treat instead of Ygnacio Valley Road since Ygnacio was very busy with cars that time of the day and I decided to take the safer route.
Altogether, it was over 16 miles on my bike and another 13 miles on my feet. 29 miles altogether left me very tired for the rest of the weekend.
But it was a good kind of tired.
I even somehow had the energy to do a 8 mile bike ride Sunday morning. As I said… glutton for punishment.
Another weekend, another trip to Mt Diablo. I had decided I wanted to reach the summit this particular weekend, so had to determine where to start from. It was a little tricky with the current restrictions, but I decided a hike up the east side of Mt Olympia from Marsh Creek Road was a good place to start.
I started right around sunrise and headed up the usual Olympia Trail to the East Trail. Just a few people on the way up to avoid.
The climb up to the summit of Mt Olympia is a challenging one, but rewarding. After enjoying it for a short rest (very short since there was a cold wind blowing across the mountain top), I did the short hop over to North Peak. A easy hike until the last 200 feet, which always seems like a completely vertical climb (it’s not).
Hoping to avoid crowding on the narrow North Peak Trail to the main summit, I didn’t spend much time at North Peak. With the roads closed, there wouldn’t be many hikers that would have reached the higher parts of Mt Diablo yet.
That was mostly true and only had about a half dozen people to navigate around until I hit the final half mile of the Summit Trail and the trail became more crowded. Fortunately, there was room to give plenty of distance and I used my buff to cover my mouth and nose during those close encounters.
At the summit, there were an amazing number of bicyclists and a few hikers already there. Again, just kept my distance and enjoyed a brief rest and refilled my Camelbak.
I had thought of a number of ways to continue from there, but hadn’t decided on how I would return to my Jeep until then. I could retrace my steps and go all the way back the same route, go down an unofficial trail along the east side of North Peak, or try something really challenging.
Originally, there was rain forecast for late in the afternoon which would have made the choice easy in order to get back before the rain started, but the forecast changed to the point that the rain would likely not start until late at night (and that turned out to be true).
So I decided to do something I had never done before: Go up the east side of Mt Diablo and then down the west side.
This would make getting back to my Jeep harder, but I could always take Uber/Lyft at the end to rest my weary legs.
I could have done a simple decent via the Summit Trial (6 miles), but decided to try a more adventurous route down the Green Ranch Road. Less traveled during normal times and with the roads closed it was unlikely to have anyone on it. I had only gone down this trail once before, so it was a nice opportunity to enjoy the different views.
It also would give me a chance to cross three side trails off my list. Each were dead ends off the main trails, so never gave me much reason to hike them before.
After leaving the Summit Trail, I descended down picturesque hills and valleys. Passing through the ruins of a long abandoned Green Ranch, I was checking out the old concrete pool (empty, of course) when I startled a deer in the deep end (and, in turn, I was also startled by the deer).
It must have been grazing on something tasty to bother going down there, but it safely leapt out and away from me with only a few giant leaps.
Gathering my wits, I continued down the trail until I hit the first new trail: Rhine Canyon Road. A pleasant hike through a very remote part of the park. As if to torment me, the last part of the trail was very steep. To keep myself honest so I could say I did the entire trail, I did the final climb until the gate that marked the end of the park. So I can honestly cross that trail off my list. It was one of the most remote trails left on my list, so it felt good to finish it off.
Continuing down to Frog Pond, I started to wish I had just gone back down the East side. I was feeling very tired and maybe that’s why I tweaked my knee around there. I’ve experienced minor knee pain on my longer hikes, but this seemed a bit much. Wrapping some sports wrap (I keep some in my day pack for emergencies) around it to stabilize it and taking a much needed break, I started down the trail towards Curry Canyon. The pain in my knee had me wondering if I could make it out on my own and if I had cell coverage there, I might have called for rescue.
By the time I reached the second side trail I had hoped to cross off my list (Chase Pond Road), the pain in my knee had lessened to the point I didn’t think I would need a helicopter to get out alive. But I also didn’t like the thought of a 2 mile round trip that would have me climbing up around 500 feet to get up and down that trail.
This side trail was closer to a trailhead accessible by a car which would let me hike it somewhat easily in the future, so I decided to play it safe and just continue down towards Curry Point.
Around that point I had to dodge a deadly rattlesnake laying across the trail. Granted, it was a baby rattlesnake so it was only about a foot long, but it could have been deadly. Maybe. 🙂
While the last side trail was a fairly short trail, I decided to skip it as well. Once I reached Curry Point (and had cell coverage), I had to decide how to finish the hike.
I could call the State Park emergency line and beg for a ride out of the park to where I could catch a Uber/Lyft. While the initial pain in my knee had me very much wanting to call for help, the pain was minimal by that point.
Had my knee not given me any trouble, I had planned on exiting down Sycamore Creek Trail. This would put me into the Blackhawk gated community and add at least a mile and a half to my hike to get a lift from Uber/Lyft.
Instead, I decided to go down the Summit Trail from Curry Point. This would be less than 2 miles and was heavily traveled in case my knee gave me any more significant trouble and I needed help. Going all the way to the South Gate was the route that I would normally do, but the local residents were up in arms about people driving down their private road and parking all over the place while the park was closed to vehicles. So to respect that (and save some additional mileage on my knees), I decided to exit via Green Valley trail.
So the detour down Green Ranch Trail made this a long 11 mile descent, but it gave me a chance to enjoy some some different scenery. The 8 miles going up made this a very long 19 miles hiked that day. If I had been able to do the two side trails on the way down, it would have been close to 24 miles, which would have been longer than my previous longest day hike (21 miles). That 21 mile hike ALSO included the Green Ranch and Curry Canyon Roads, so that should give you a little idea of how long and remote some of these trails are.
So despite the change in exit point, I felt very good about being able to do something I had never done at Mt Diablo before: Going from one side of the park, up to the Main Summit, and over to the other side of the park. A long, but rewarding hike. Maybe I’ll try a hike from the northern most part of the park (Mitchell Canyon) to the southern most part (Morgan Territory) some day.
I went to bed sore and very tired, knowing that I could enjoy the next day (which was supposed to be very rainy) without adding any more mileage to my legs.
But somehow with clear skies in the afternoon, I found the desire to do a short 7 mile bike ride. Glutton for punishment. 🙂
To start Memorial Day weekend, I decided to pick a remote part of Mt Diablo State Park. It’s so remote, most of it was actually part of Morgan Territory Regional Park.
After navigating the one lane Morgan Territory Road, I parked my Jeep and started at the Raven trail. I could have followed this trail up and around a large ridge, but I decided to take a little shortcut that would save me a steep climb and about a mile an half.
Unfortunately, the shortcut required me to go down a use trail that descended into a gully. A little precarious, but I found the trail on the other end. That trail didn’t even have a name on my map.
I reached Highland Ridge, then descended down Grizzly Trail. Before I zeroed in on my target for this hike (Black Hills Trail) I took the time to do a short dead-end trail to cross it off my list of Mt Diablo trails that I haven’t hiked yet.
At least I thought I did. It was a rough trail, but was clear enough to follow. After I did the short 1 mile round trip trail and returned and examined the remains of a little farm house, I saw what was obviously the old ranch road that was what was indicated on my maps. Unfortunately, it wasn’t on my GPS so I didn’t notice that the trail I had done was not the one I was looking for.
Grumbling a little bit at the extra mile it would add to my hike, I made me way down and back this short trail. It was a lot easier than the first one I had thought was the proper trail. Such is life.
That little double-detour behind me, I started up Black Hills Trail. It wasn’t a long trail (maybe two and half miles), but looped around a lovely area in the far south-eastern part of Mt Diablo State park.
It was here that I actually saw some other people. Coming from Morgan Territory Road the trail was as empty as I thought it would be, but people coming up from Old Finley Road started to show up. Only 8-9 people overall, so it was easy to keep my distance.
After a break for lunch, I finished up the Black Hills Trail. Instead of retracing my exact steps back to my Jeep, I decided to go along the east part of Sulphur Springs Trail that went through a nice canyon and ended at a high hill overlooking the area.
After enjoying the view, I had to avoid some cattle and their land mines as I started to climb up the Jeremiah Trail. Reaching Highland Ridge Trail once again, I had one final choice to make.
If I went back the same trail I came up from, I could save about a mile and a half AND over 500 feet of climbing. But the hill I had scrambled down as a shortcut would be very tricky to climb back up.
Even with the mid-day sun heating things up, I decided to be adventurous and take the new trail. While not in Mt Diablo State Park and thus not on my list of trails to finish hiking, it looked like a pleasant hike.
Definitely a challenging and steep climb to the high point of the day (just shy of 2,300 feet). Then it was the best part of the day: Going down.
The upper part of the Raven Trail was a nice way to finish the day off. I was very glad I didn’t do this part of the trail first thing in the morning, since climbing up the steep ridge might not have been much fun and caused me to shorten my hike for the day.
It ended up being about 13 miles hiked that day, a little longer than I thought it would be. But a nice start to the weekend.
The last weekend in May had me doing a short (7 mile) hike in the eastern part of Mt Diablo State Park. It was basically to cross some unhiked Mt Diablo trials off my list before some rain started.
Short trails, but a lot of looping up and around hills. The far side of Ridgline Trail ended at Three Springs, which had an interesting hut used as a water cistern used to catch the spring water. Shame it’s not a hot spring, because it would make a good soaking pool (although it was caged off, since I assume the water is piped for someone to use in the nearby private residences/farms).
The final trial was called Balisdell Trail on the map, but it wasn’t much of a trail. If it wasn’t shown as a trail on the map, I’d have never known it was there. In any case, I followed whatever signs of a trail I could find up and down the hill. I had to pull a lot of burrs out of my socks due to that part of the hike.
While I did have some rain sprinkles, I was home well before a decently sized thunderstorm swept through the area and dumped a good volume of rain. Glad I missed that on the trail.
So my list of unhiked trails at Mt Diablo grows shorter still. Only a few small pockets of trails to go. It should be easy to finish them this year.
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