Mary Bowerman Trail 4-23-19

View northeast from summit -- North Peak and snowy Sierra

A couple of months ago I had gone up Mt. Diablo thinking of hiking the Mary Bowerman Trail, an easy three-quarter mile loop around the summit. Because it had snowed on the mountain a couple of days before, the road was closed at Juniper Camp. I thought I would walk to the summit from there, but a steep climb and an icy trail changed my mind and I turned back a little short of the top.

The Mary Bowerman Trail was built a short time after the 1977 fire which burned the whole north side of the mountain. It was originally called the "Fire Ecology Trail", and was intended to provide easy access to the area around the summit so that people could see the progress of recovery from the fire. Part of the trail on the north side is paved and provides wheelchair access to a viewing platform. I had been aware of the existence of the trail since the time of its creation, but always thought that it was too short to be worthy of a hike. These days the aging process had made short and easy a lot more desirable for me.

I drove up the mountain from the Danville side on a warm spring Tuesday morning. It being a weekday, I thought that there would be fewer bikes on the road, and there probably were, but there were enough to slow me down a bit. When I got to the top, I stopped to check out the stone summit tower. It had been many years since I had seen it and I remembered only a stairway to a viewing  platform. On a lower level, there is now a visitor center with some very nice exhibits.

I moved my car down to the lower parking area, and found the start of the trail just past the split where the road becomes divided. Contouring the steep south side of the mountain, there were some bare branches remaining from the 2013 Morgan Fire, but otherwise, everything was green and growing and already well recovered. At the base of a large rock, the Devil's Pulpit, the trail doubles back along the north side of the mountain. There were a couple of spots which were carpeted by masses of tiny pink flowers which were very pretty.

Pink flowers near Devil's Pulpit

 The trail along the shady north side soon comes to a concrete platform with several telescopes with a great view. From that point, the trail continues as a paved path until the loop is completed near the starting point. A small faded sign explains the origin of the trail with the 1977 fire, but otherwise that event is mostly forgotten and the vegetation has nearly completely regrown.

It was a short, easy hike, but quite beautiful, and it was a nice little break from life down below in the city.

0.7 miles, nearly level.