Mt. Diablo 8-16-14

Amphitheater Trail

It was a Saturday and Maureen was doing a riding clinic all day, so I headed out for a hike. I left Darby at home because I was headed for state park land and it was going to be a hot day. My plan was to go into the Riggs Canyon area of Mount Diablo State Park, which I had visited several times before, but always from the Finley Road park entrance. A trail enters the regional park and state park at the end of Finley Road, but the nearest place you can park is the roadside 3/4 mile from the trailhead. On the map, I saw that there is a trailhead on the northeast side of the area on Morgan Territory Road. It was new to me, so I decided to check it out.

I drove up over the hill on Morgan Territory Road, and I had forgotten what a tight-knuckled road it is. For several miles it is a very steep and windy one lane with no shoulders. Luckily, I only met one on-coming car, and he backed up to a wide spot to let me pass. I passed several gates, some marked as regional park, and some private, before I came to the right one. The only sign was a fire road number, but I could see a state park trail signpost beyond the gate. There is really no place to park, but I managed to get off the pavement at a wide spot. There were no other cars around. There is a road heading to the right which is apparently the Old Finley Road, but it is signed "Private Road", so I took the straight ahead trail, the Morgan Creek Road.

The first thing I noticed was the silence. It was the kind of silence you find in the high Sierra or in the desert, but not very often in the Bay Area. As I climbed up the canyon, the second thing I noticed was the gnats. Swarms of the little buggers hovering around my face requiring nearly constant waving them away. They weren't so bad when I got out of the trees and when the breeze picked up, but they were annoying. I took the Jeremiah Creek Trail which contoured around the canyon before climbing to the top of the ridge. There were nice views west into Riggs Canyon and east to the hills of Morgan Territory. I started down into Riggs Canyon on the Old Finley Road, then turned left onto the Amphitheater Trail.

I soon came to a spot I remembered from years ago where the trail passes through a little glade with a large rock jutting out from the hillside. The curving rocky ridge above it is what they call the amphitheater. It is quite impressive, but before you know it, you are past it and back on ordinary grassy hillsides. After a while, the trail climbs steeply to the ridge top, which proved hard work for me. I was getting pretty tired and it was now quite hot. I turned left on Crestview Road, then right on Highland Ridge Road, which to my disappointment climbed a bit more until I turned left on Morgan Ridge Road. Now it was just a long descent down this grassy ridge back to the trailhead.

It turned out to be a pretty good hike, and I would have enjoyed it even more without the gnats and the heat. This must be a very little used corner of the park. When I returned to the trailhead there still were no other cars, and all day I passed only one other hiker, which is unusual for a Saturday.

4.6 miles, 1400 ft. climb

Shell Ridge 8-6-14

on Fossil Hill Loop Trail

We had been having some unusual weather for August, several days of cool foggy days and news of flash floods in southern California. On Tuesday, the system was reaching the Bay Area, and that night we had a little rain in Hayward. By mid-morning Wednesday, everything was dry again, and I decided to go hiking at Shell Ridge. I hadn't been there in a very long time, and after hiking at Lime Ridge last week, I wanted to check out Walnut Creek's other big open space area. Shell Ridge Open Space is an even larger area than Lime Ridge and it has lots of trails. The map shows several trailheads with parking, and I chose the one at the end of Sutherland Drive, off of Walnut Blvd.

I had been debating whether to bring Darby along. I saw from the website that dogs are allowed, but wondered whether a long hike in warm weather would be good for him. I finally decided to bring him. He always wants to go with me but he doesn't know what he's getting himself into. As we started hiking, I could feel the lingering high humidity and it was already quite warm — probably in the 90's. This hike would be hard on Darby, but he was excited about going. I wasn't very concerned about running into other dogs since it was a weekday, and we passed several other hikers and runners, but only one dog, and it was no problem.

We took the first right onto the Indian Creek Trail, a single-track which followed a little dry creekbed for a mile or so. Then we were on the Briones to Mt. Diablo Trail, a fire road gradually climbing along the southwest side of the main ridge. The Borges Ranch Trail soon took us down to the Borges Ranch, an old ranch run as a living history museum and picnic area. Green grass was a welcome sight after the dry trails, and we went looking for a water faucet. We found a drinking fountain and I was letting Darby have a drink, when a park employee asked me to let him drink out of the hose instead. I guess not everyone is as casual about dog germs as I am.

on Briones to Mt. Diablo Trail

We started heading back west again on the Costanoan Trail, which kept climbing high up the hill. It was now past noon and getting hotter all the time, and we needed a couple of rest stops to make it to the top. From there it was mostly downhill, and we were able to cruise along pretty good, although we were both getting tired, and just wanted the hike to be done. I was starting to feel a bit light-headed from the heat, but maybe also from my blood pressure medication which sometimes seems to work a little too well. Back at home, we were both pretty wasted, and Darby didn't do much except lie around for the rest of the day. He's not a young dog anymore, and today's hike was probably a little too much for him, especially with the hot weather.

Except for the heat, it was a fun hike and I'll be going back there again. I like that there are a lot of small hills and valleys that bring a new views with every few steps on the trail. It's a pretty place even in this dry season, and it must be really beautiful in the springtime.

4.6 miles, 800 ft. climb