The Devil Mountain

At 3,849 ft. Mt. Diablo looms over the East Bay. For several years now I've been hankering for a summit hike. With the Sierra Club I've done several wildflower walks on the side peaks and they're good hikes but something was lacking. This year, having met a few good hikers I was determined to make it to the top. The date was set about a month ago, I offered to drive, I made sandwiches, I cleared out my camera's memory card, I brought a hat, sunscreen, plenty of water. The group convened at the Mitchell Canyon parking lot at approximately 9:00. One of our hikers had been to the summit a few weeks ago, so knew the way.

Everything started off beautifully, a red tailed hawk soared overheard, a mallard slept on the small pond. We headed up the Back Creek trail which follows a small stream shaded by a few trees for the first few miles, then up along Prospector's Gap to the summit. The wildflowers were out in force. I couldn't believe how many types of flowers in large stands we were seeing. Over the past couple years I have made an effort to learn a few of the local wildflowers. Most are not flowers I've seen growing up in the east and look completely unfamiliar. I try to learn a few each spring but generally it is all forgotten by the next spring. Generally on Sierra Club outings the leader knows most of the flowers and I rely on his help for identification. On this hike we had five people who knew very little but were determined to make the attempt to identify what we could. I had a small pocket wildflower folder that proved occasionally helpful. At first I felt like I couldn't remember anything but then as we walked along and saw the same bloom over and over having turned it over in my mind for a while I would suddenly be able to spit out the name. Often I found I could remember taking a picture of the flower and if I had taken it's picture I must have seen it before and heard the name so it must be in my brain somewhere and surprisingly enough if often popped out of my mouth.

One would think with all the wild flower identifying and picture taking it would make for a slow hike and I guess it was sort of. It was steep, steeper than I anticipated, and hot and I who am always in the lead started to fall behind. Being too proud to say stop I'm older and weaker than any of you others I kept plodding along. At some point we stopped at a stupendous vista and had lunch. The North Bay was spread out before us though it was a bit hazy from a large fire on an island the day before. After lunch is about when I started to think I wasn't sure I could make it, but after about another 45 minutes there was the summit. 3,849 feet the highest point around and you could see a long way, though not as far as if it had been a clear day. It was after 2:00 which surprised me I thought we had been making better time than that.

We took the Mitchell Canyon Road down, a broad fire road providing sweeping vistas the whole way. The hillsides were covered in fields of orange poppy's. It was the sort of scene one would paint or take a breathtaking photo of if you had an SLR camera. Unfortunately I was feeling like crap, and with every step I felt worse, like I could hardly move. I don't know if it was the heat or dehydration but it was one of the very few times in my life where I wasn't sure how I would make it back to the car. While one stayed back to walk with me the others would walk ahead and wait. Putting one foot in front of the other a few more hours and finally we were back at the parking lot. I sat down by my car and vomited into the grass. Sick enough that I let someone else drive the Ultimate Driving Machine back home. The flowers, the views, the hikers, the hike were incredible. My relation with Mt. Diablo is now complete, I've been to the top, it was much much harder than I expected but I survived. Next year I plan to do it again - any takers?



Wallflower, bluedick, milkmaid, red maid, indian warrior, indian paintbrush, california poppy, wild cucumber, miner's lettuce, chinese houses, Mt. Diablo fairy lantern, rock cress, camass, baby blue eyes, california buttercup, shooting star, houndstongue, popcorn flower, fiddleneck, owl clover and many others I couldn't identify.