Mount Diablo near San Francisco, USA
I was lucky to have warm sunny weather for this November weekend at Berkeley, at the end of a week's training course. A chance to climb a couple of hills! I'd checked the maps for the highest peaks close to San Francisco, and came up with Mt Tamalpais, and Mount Diablo. I had managed to get maps from bookshops in Berkeley and San Francisco, and information on public transport services (see Summary).
So on the Saturday morning I packed up my gear for the day out, but first met up in a breakfast bar with a couple of colleagues from the training course, before they headed off home. You can make pretty good friends when working in a team and socialising for 5 days. The American breakfast combination of ham and eggs and muffin is a weird combination on the same plate, but it sets you up for the day.
Then I started out around 9.30 and caught a BART train over to Walnut Creek and on to Concord. There were bus stops outside, and I didn't have to wait long for the one to Clayton, on the north side of Mount Diablo. It was a matter of carefully checking the junctions we went through, to work out where I needed to get off. I think it must have been at the junction of Marsh Creek Road with Regency Drive, on the right, where I got off. I headed down this street past large houses with the hills rising behind, on a warm sunny morning. The street crossed the dry basin of the Mt Diablo Creek, and then bent to the right, to where a marked trail headed off to the left, directly towards the mountain. It was less than a mile from the bus stop, just 15 minutes' walk.
I set off along here, through open woodland, and the dusty track (grandly named Donner Canyon Road) rose gradually upwards, heading due south. It passed junctions with several other tracks then after about a mile and a half bent left above the woodland. There was a steeper climb, up the Olympia Trail, zig-zagging up onto Mount Olympia (2946 ft) about 2 hours from the bus stop. It was pretty hot up there, and just as I arrived a coiled shape moved a few feet in front of me and slid away quietly into the undergrowth - some sort of small snake, basking in the sun. I didn't sit down to take a break, but enjoyed the extensive view across the northern slopes of Mount Diablo.
By now I felt a bit of a thrill, hiking out here in rough hill country in the western USA - somehow it seemed pretty adventurous, although I suppose for local residents it was just an average hike in the country.
There was still some climbing to go, although the North Peak Trail was easy enough, first climbing a ridge then skirting the west flank of the North Peak (3557 ft). It was necessary to cut back left and uphill to this summit, then return to the turning and head down the North Peak Road to a col known as Prospector's Gap. The road bent dowhill to the left (east), and the North Peak Trail continued south, around the side of the main peak before zig-zagging and turning west, gradually climbing up to join the Summit Road beside a belt of woodland, then leave it again and climb over to the summit car park.
At the summit there was car parking for those who preferred the easy way up, and a visitor centre and museum housed in an impressive sandstone building. Maps and guidebooks were on sale, there were art displays, and information on the landscape, plant and animal life. From the rooftop viewing platform there was a complete panorama over a baking hot landscape, a patchwork of pale brown grasslands broken up by darker green forest and scrubland. This seemed like the highest point for many miles around - well worth the climb. There were maybe a dozen others enjoying the view. The panorama on a clear day is described on the official state park website ("one of the finest views in the world", it claims).
I felt great - this was the first time I had climbed the equivalent of a Scottish munro (over 3000 ft) in the Americas. Looking back, I can't remember the timings, but it must have been mid-afternoon, and I had to get moving to Walnut Creek before dark - around 8 miles away across open hill country and through the forested Shell Ridge Recreation Area. It was November 1st, so the evening would be short. I reckoned I could make it, half running and half walking, in a couple of hours, and hurled down the Summit Trail heading south-west at a good pace. First it was a well-worn track where I had to watch my step on loose stone, then it became easier and less steep. It went through attractive rolling grassland, with a good view back towards the summit in the late afternoon sunshine.
However, it was getting dingy in the forested sections, and I was having difficulty sorting out the different trails. I soon lost my sense of direction (I didn't have a compass, which wasn't clever). Less dashing, more care required. I found a sign for a campground, and then realised I'd wandered well off my westerly track, ending up in the Rock City area to the south. I realised there wasn't much chance of getting back to Walnut Creek in the daylight, and even though there was a road here, it looked like it followed a circuitous route out of the park. The Rock City area had various natural attractions and facilities for visitors, but they had all gone home for the day...except, one car turned up with a couple of guys who had arrived to see the sunset on the rocks.
They were only too pleased to offer me a lift back to Walnut Creek, after spending a few minutes enjoying the spectacle of the evening sunlight on the sculptured rocks. Rescued! I had been lucky. It was probably about 20 minutes' drive to the BART station, and I was back to Berkeley in good time to find a place for supper. Quite an experience - but a few lessons as well in sensible route planning!
8 years after doing the walk, it's a good feeling to get a story like this up on the web, with a few photos scanned in.
Variations
There are many more trails through woodland in the Shell Ridge Recreation Area, much closer to the eastern edge of Walnut Creek, which would provide shorter and less strenuous walks - I had planned to make my return through this area, but didn't get that far! However, you would miss out on the great view from the top of Mount Diablo, and the sense of being out in wild hill country.
(Story written in September 2005)
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