Route Climbed: by bicycle on the road Date Climbed: sometime in the 1980s
As part of a charity bicycle event - I rode my bike up to the top of Mt Diablo. The last 100 yards of the road are 17% grade which is incredibly steep to ride up on a bike. The ride down was scary as I was trying not to go too fast. I think I wore out my brake pads!
Route Climbed: Hiked a few trails Date Climbed: April 26, 2003
It was cool. Also I felt like I wanted to do it again. I saw turkeys and cows. I saw coyote poop. I went inside the building. There were stuffed animals there.
Hiked this with Kim. Up in 2.5h. Fun hike, especially the lower parts. The top 1000' is a bit crowded. Not as many flowers as we'd have liked to seen, with all the cold & rain this spring. The paragliders were fun to watch.
On the way up we got a bit lost. Missed the Juniper trail and ended up doing a mile or so along the road, then connected with the summit trail around 300 feet below the summit.
Route Climbed: Eagle Peak/Bald Ridge trail/XC Date Climbed: April 5, 2003
Enjoyable dayhike (Eagle Peak-Diablo-Devil's Pulpit-North Peak-Olympia) out of Mitchell Canyon. The scramble up to the main summit via Devil's Pulpit is fun class 2-3; the XC route between North Peak and Olympia is less so.
Route Climbed: North Peak Trail, cross-country Date Climbed: March 22, 2003
I started from Devil's Elbow right below the summit and descended to Prospecter's Gap between the main and North peaks. From there I followed the fireroad up to the North Peak. It gets really steep and loose right before the summit. I foung the highpoint right next to a huge antenna and stood on top. From there I followed the ridge straight down towards Mt. Olympia. I had to detour around a huge rock wall about halfway down (from the bottom it didn't look as bad). About 10 minutes of difficult bushwacking brought me to a saddle where I climbed some bad rock to a point that I though was the summit. Had to continue anothe 100 yards to the real summit. This route is supposed to be class 3 if you keep to the ridge, but what I did was probably difficult class 2 downclimbing. Found a geocache box at the top (not an actual summit log). Followed trails back to my car. I saw only 1 other person between North Peak and Mt. Olympia, even though it was a Saturday with pretty good weather.
Route Climbed: Olympia Trail Date Climbed: March 8, 2003
What a beautiful day. This is a fun day trip. The trail became indistinct in a few places as the grass was overgrowing the trail even with the low rain year we've had. Shows how little this trail is used. Also there were a couple of washouts along the section of trail between Olympia peak and the North Summit. Met fellow SPer Don Bender and his two sons on the North Peak. Hiked to the South Peak with them.
Route Climbed: Mt. Olympia Trail Date Climbed: January, 2003
A nice climb on Superbowl Sunday. Didn't see a soul until reaching Prospector's Gap. According to my GPS, the round trip was 12.3 miles and 4,100 ft. including a side trip to the North Summit
Route Climbed: Multiple Date Climbed: 1998, 1999, 2000
I hiked this peak 3 times through various approaches which included Mt. Olympia trail and the road. It was certainly tough and strenuous but not too pleasant due to sun/heat exposure. I will try it again this winter.. hopefully it is nicer in cooler weather.
Route Climbed: Some God-awful hot trail Date Climbed: Summer, 1989
Only time I've been there was as the half-way point for a marathon that started from Clayton HS. Don't remember anything about the views, as it didn't seem too important after 13mi and 3500ft. Maybe I ought to drive up there sometime and enjoy it...
Route Climbed: more hiking/trail running than climbing Date Climbed: Jan 2001 (most memorable)
I drove to the summit and did a looping trail that dropped down the north eastern side, looped around and back up to the summit from the south. ~7 miles I think - nice hike to do in the morning. Being January it was pleasantly cool up there, (even a bit of snow lying around in shaded areas:), and what made this trip memorable was morning low-lying fog encircling Diable and all the surround hills. All you could see was the tops, making you feel like you were above the clouds. Also saw paragliders taking off that day - very cool.
uh...this was a "vehicle-aided" ascent. :) I came up here with a European friend of mine, who thought he might paraglide off the peak. He had done it once off the western slopes, where afternoon summer westerlies induce nice thermals.
Never really even thought of climbing Diablo, even then, only in the winter. I often admire it from afar, though. Legend has it that Diablo was the second or third "most visible point" on earth, defined as acreage from which the point was visible. On an extraordinarily clear day you can see it from the Sierras, most points in the Bay Area, and probably from Sacramento to near Fresno.
Route Climbed: Mt Olympia Trail; Back Canyon Date Climbed: Many
First through hike was with Vladimir. The panoramic view from the summit encompasses nearly the entire length of snow-capped Sierra Nevada north to Lassen Peak of the Cascades. From the main summit you can see Pacific Ocean, San Francisco skyline, three bridges in the bay, and many, many more places. Go on a clear windy day in winter for the best view.
Jonodo - Aug 25, 2003 11:03 am
Route Climbed: Date Climbed: July 2003Great day hike that's close to home.
mtnhiker13 - Aug 18, 2003 2:17 pm
Route Climbed: by bicycle on the road Date Climbed: sometime in the 1980sAs part of a charity bicycle event - I rode my bike up to the top of Mt Diablo. The last 100 yards of the road are 17% grade which is incredibly steep to ride up on a bike. The ride down was scary as I was trying not to go too fast. I think I wore out my brake pads!
lildancer - Apr 28, 2003 6:06 pm
Route Climbed: Hiked a few trails Date Climbed: April 26, 2003It was cool. Also I felt like I wanted to do it again. I saw turkeys and cows. I saw coyote poop. I went inside the building. There were stuffed animals there.
As dictated to my mom.
mpbro - Apr 27, 2003 11:23 am
Route Climbed: Moses Rock Ridge Date Climbed: 26 April 2003Hiked this with Kim. Up in 2.5h. Fun hike, especially the lower parts. The top 1000' is a bit crowded. Not as many flowers as we'd have liked to seen, with all the cold & rain this spring. The paragliders were fun to watch.
On the way up we got a bit lost. Missed the Juniper trail and ended up doing a mile or so along the road, then connected with the summit trail around 300 feet below the summit.
Matthew Holliman - Apr 6, 2003 4:55 pm
Route Climbed: Eagle Peak/Bald Ridge trail/XC Date Climbed: April 5, 2003Enjoyable dayhike (Eagle Peak-Diablo-Devil's Pulpit-North Peak-Olympia) out of Mitchell Canyon. The scramble up to the main summit via Devil's Pulpit is fun class 2-3; the XC route between North Peak and Olympia is less so.
Brett A - Mar 22, 2003 5:02 pm
Route Climbed: North Peak Trail, cross-country Date Climbed: March 22, 2003I started from Devil's Elbow right below the summit and descended to Prospecter's Gap between the main and North peaks. From there I followed the fireroad up to the North Peak. It gets really steep and loose right before the summit. I foung the highpoint right next to a huge antenna and stood on top. From there I followed the ridge straight down towards Mt. Olympia. I had to detour around a huge rock wall about halfway down (from the bottom it didn't look as bad). About 10 minutes of difficult bushwacking brought me to a saddle where I climbed some bad rock to a point that I though was the summit. Had to continue anothe 100 yards to the real summit. This route is supposed to be class 3 if you keep to the ridge, but what I did was probably difficult class 2 downclimbing. Found a geocache box at the top (not an actual summit log). Followed trails back to my car. I saw only 1 other person between North Peak and Mt. Olympia, even though it was a Saturday with pretty good weather.
keema - Mar 9, 2003 9:04 am
Route Climbed: Olympia Trail Date Climbed: March 8, 2003What a beautiful day. This is a fun day trip. The trail became indistinct in a few places as the grass was overgrowing the trail even with the low rain year we've had. Shows how little this trail is used. Also there were a couple of washouts along the section of trail between Olympia peak and the North Summit. Met fellow SPer Don Bender and his two sons on the North Peak. Hiked to the South Peak with them.
phomchick - Jan 28, 2003 2:32 am
Route Climbed: Mt. Olympia Trail Date Climbed: January, 2003A nice climb on Superbowl Sunday. Didn't see a soul until reaching Prospector's Gap. According to my GPS, the round trip was 12.3 miles and 4,100 ft. including a side trip to the North Summit
Misha - Dec 30, 2002 12:35 pm
Route Climbed: Multiple Date Climbed: 1998, 1999, 2000I hiked this peak 3 times through various approaches which included Mt. Olympia trail and the road. It was certainly tough and strenuous but not too pleasant due to sun/heat exposure. I will try it again this winter.. hopefully it is nicer in cooler weather.
Brett A - Nov 15, 2002 11:00 pm
Route Climbed: Summit Trail, road Date Climbed: Nov. 1, 2002I did my most recent climb on my mountain bike. Went to the top on the summit trail and rode down the long, winding road. Riding down was very fun.
Luidger - Aug 13, 2002 12:53 am
Route Climbed: By bike from Walnut Creek Date Climbed: Oct 1992Sometime in Oct 1992 (IIRC) I biked up Mt. Diablo which was pretty nice.
Bob Burd - Aug 12, 2002 9:37 pm
Route Climbed: Some God-awful hot trail Date Climbed: Summer, 1989Only time I've been there was as the half-way point for a marathon that started from Clayton HS. Don't remember anything about the views, as it didn't seem too important after 13mi and 3500ft. Maybe I ought to drive up there sometime and enjoy it...
Mountaindoc - Apr 12, 2002 3:14 am
Route Climbed: somewhere from the Bay Area... Date Climbed: June 1992One of the hardest days of my life... All the 4000m peaks in the Alpes haven't been that cruel. We ran out of water in the searing californian sun...
Still a nice mountain!
kdonaldson - Feb 20, 2002 10:59 am
Route Climbed: more hiking/trail running than climbing Date Climbed: Jan 2001 (most memorable)I drove to the summit and did a looping trail that dropped down the north eastern side, looped around and back up to the summit from the south. ~7 miles I think - nice hike to do in the morning. Being January it was pleasantly cool up there, (even a bit of snow lying around in shaded areas:), and what made this trip memorable was morning low-lying fog encircling Diable and all the surround hills. All you could see was the tops, making you feel like you were above the clouds. Also saw paragliders taking off that day - very cool.
ejgriffin - Feb 20, 2002 9:14 am
Route Climbed: Don't know, some trail Date Climbed: December 1997The climb itself isn't too spectacular, but the view from the top is incredible.
mpbro - Feb 19, 2002 4:56 pm
Route Climbed: the road! Date Climbed: neveruh...this was a "vehicle-aided" ascent. :) I came up here with a European friend of mine, who thought he might paraglide off the peak. He had done it once off the western slopes, where afternoon summer westerlies induce nice thermals.
Never really even thought of climbing Diablo, even then, only in the winter. I often admire it from afar, though. Legend has it that Diablo was the second or third "most visible point" on earth, defined as acreage from which the point was visible. On an extraordinarily clear day you can see it from the Sierras, most points in the Bay Area, and probably from Sacramento to near Fresno.
gordonye - Feb 19, 2002 4:20 pm
Route Climbed: Mt Olympia Trail; Back Canyon Date Climbed: ManyFirst through hike was with Vladimir. The panoramic view from the summit encompasses nearly the entire length of snow-capped Sierra Nevada north to Lassen Peak of the Cascades. From the main summit you can see Pacific Ocean, San Francisco skyline, three bridges in the bay, and many, many more places. Go on a clear windy day in winter for the best view.