ount Diablo is a glorified hill (elevation 3000 feet) not very far from the condo I share with Malaya. The mountain is entirely state park land, and is covered by hiking and biking trails, with a very windy paved road all the way to the summit.  It's a great drive up to picnic or just sight see, or to go for a real hike. It's also a good place to take out of town guests, like say; my mom and stepdad. Malaya and I have been up there several times, so the photos on this page span a number of visits, times of the year, and weather conditions.

The road up and down is paved, but it's extremely steep and far more curved than straight. This sign isn't kidding, and in fact it's a bit like putting a sign on the beach saying "Salt water ahead."  All the roads are curved, the speed limit is 25 and frequently 10 or 15 on corners (by necessity, I assure you), and it's quite a bit of fun in a car... if you're driving. Passengers may need multiple rest breaks and open windows to retain their lunch.

Any new batches of photos will be added further down this page and linked to from this wee table of contents.

• November 2003 and March 2004 shots.
• August 2004 hike with Malaya. (Better camera.)
• Mt. Diablo Ranch. Beware of cows.

November 2003 and March 2004

Our first visit was in November 2003. We returned a second time in early 2004, and on that visit Malaya and I were accompanied by my mom and stepdad. The first visit was in late fall, on a sunny day. The second time, with mom, was a cloudy winter day, as you will see in the photos below.

Yes, I had to wear that hat. 

• A view of me with the whole sign.

The top of Mt. Diablo is around 3000 feet up, and when there are clouds in this region they are often at the 1000-2000 foot elevation. This makes for some cool views driving up the mountain, since you go from overcast to foggy to sunshine, with clouds blocking your view of the surrounding lowlands. We can see Mt. Diablo from our condo and all the surrounding area if we're out running errands, and the summit is often consumed by clouds, even on just somewhat overcast days.

On this particular occasion we went through a low layer of clouds only to find a higher layer up at 10,000 feet or more. We were up above the rain, but still far from the sun. It made for some nice photos though, with the peaks of the surrounding 500-1000 foot foothills just peeking through the clouds.

A picture of mom on top of the mountain, near the observatory/weather station/old stone building.  Temperatures were in the 40s that March day, and there were several "watch for ice" signs around the stone steps up to the very summit, so obviously it got pretty cold overnight with the elevation and wind.

A typical shot of clouds blanketing the lower hills and erasing the flat land.

• Another one.
• One more.
• Yet a third.

When it's not cloudy, you get some very nice panorama views down the foothills to the flatlands.

From the summit you look down into an impressive bowl valley, and then back up another rather steep and rocky hill. Click to see this one large enough to make out the cell phone relay towers on the summit.

• Another nice view down. 

The trail up to Devil's Elbow is to the left. It's fun to climb once you get there; relatively steep but with lots of steps and erosion hollows, and a great view and wind up on top.

• The trail up to Devil's Elbow.

• Mom and Glenn working their way up to the elbow.

• Mom and Glenn take a break on the path.

• Taking a side cut back up from Devil's Elbow.

There are a lot of very large and very climbable trees on the mountain as well. I couldn't resist monkeying around a bit in this ancient grove of live oaks.

• Another shot of me in the trees.
• Yet another one.
• What do the branches look like from above? Wide, steep, and rather moss-covered.

The trails all look something like this, though this is one of the wider and less-crowded ones. This is from autumn, before the winter rains, which is why it's so dusty and the grass is brown and golden. In the spring the trails are overgrown by weeds and grass, foliage that slowly fades from green to gold to dark gray as it dies in the summer drought.

We've seen a rattlesnake on the road driving up, but never hiking, and our one tarantula sighting was this guy, in the gravel parking lot below Devil's Elbow. Other than that we've seen nothing but lots of rabbits and birds overhead. And some guy's rottweiler, near the parking lot. Oh, and cows. More of them below.

One of the cuter photos we've taken. Malaya sitting on top of a picnic table, me sitting behind her, and our trail-dusty feet all lined up.

We always seem to leave the mountain near sunset, and thus far it's always been a gorgeous golden view. Here's the one from mom's visit in early 2004, and below you see our "through a tree" effort from late 2003.

August 2004 Hike

My next visit to Mt. Diablo was with Malaya alone. We got lunch at Subway and drove up there in early August 2004. The late summer mountain was dry, hot, and windy. I had upgraded my digital camera since the previous visit, and as the following shots will make clear, 4 megapixels rules over 2 megapixels.

Interesting rock upthrust ridge seen about halfway up the mountian. I don't know why the left side has trees and grass (brown in the late summer, but it's emerald and waist-high in spring) and the right has scrub brush and chaparral. Wind blows from the right always? Too rocky for tree roots or water to last? Poor soil?

The best long scale panorama view on this page. Click it to see it full sized and see if you don't agree.

Rock with stone. It would make a nice puzzle. Click to see it large and beautiful.

The sort of varied light and detail and depth of focus shot my new camera was invented to excel at. Click this shot to see it large enough to matter.

Every oak tree had dozens and hundreds of little red-leafed sprouts growing up beneath it.  Click the shot to see it larger, or this link to see a close up of one of the tenacious little saplings, or this link to see another tree with a huge cluster of green saplings.

Manzanita trees have lovely red bark, and they peel every season in this oddly-sunburned fashion. These trees are common in Southern California in the chaparral hills near the coast, so I didn't expect to see them in the colder and wetter climate up here. And yet there were dozens of them on every trail on Mt. Diablo, and they grow far taller up here too.  Here's a shot from a distance, with me standing beside the tree for size comparison.

I like this run off channel that's just getting started. In a thousand years it might be a canyon deep enough to turn these gentle hills into jagged cliffs, and perhaps expose huge boulders within the hills. Like you see below.

Our goal on our hike this time, was to descend through the woods and reach these boulders. They didn't look so far away, from where we parked, and there were trails snaking down to the left that looked like they might wind across the canyon.  They didn't, and as we got further down we found the going much steeper, until the trial we were following just sort of ended in very dense chaparral. I'm talking chainsaw needed; a machete wouldn't do it. So we turned back, and found somewhere else to sit and eat our lunch.

Nice spot for a picnic, eh? It was a gorgeous day, warm with a bit of chill in the breeze, and this view made everything taste better. The mystery boulders are over to the far right, on the other side of this canyon. It's a lot wider here than up near the road, obviously.

Click the image to see it much larger and much prettier.

Diablo Ranch

On the way down the near side of the mountain, you pass this ranch on the left side of the road. I nearly drove off the road the first time, and Malaya and me had to park and walk back up to see it, laughing our asses off the whole time. If you don't play Diablo II you won't get the joke, but this page might go some distance towards explaining it.

Unfortunately, there have never been any cows in sight of this fence, and the ranch isn't much of a secret, but it's still good for a laugh.

And there are even cows!  Unfortunately this girl was sighted way down the road, miles past Diablo Ranch. Here she is with a few dozen of her friends. 

More Mt. Diablo photos to come as future hikes and day trips lead us in that direction.

All site content copyright "Flux" (Eric Bruce), 2002-2007.