Mount Diablo State Park

Welcome to another Travel Tuesday! Ā I’d love to tell you that we made it all the way to the top of Mount Diablo for this hike, but…we were running on rather limited time, (I think two of us had somewhere to be by noon),Ā didn’t get started til around 9 a.m., and may have veered off trail a couple times…

So instead of talking about a specificĀ trail, I’m just going to talk about Mount Diablo State Park as a whole! :]

Mount Diablo State Park

mount diablo state park

Mount Diablo itself is about 3849 feet tall, aka way over 1000 feet taller than Mission Peak! According toĀ Miwok and Ohlone mythology, it was the point of creation.

The park covers 20k acres and there are lots of different points of interest to visit within the park–Rock City is filled with huge sandstone formations and small caves–there are a lot of picnic sites and campgrounds near here! :] There’s also Fossil Ridge (located off Southgate Road–accessible from Rock City), where you can see fossils embedded in sandstone!

We saw some deer along the trail but they peaced out before I could get a picture!

Location: 1300 North Gate Road, Walnut Creek, CA 94598
Hours: 8am – sunset (Plan to be in your vehicles + headed out by sunset to avoid being locked in!)
Parking: Day use fee per vehicle ($10; $6 if you use the Macedo or Mitchellor entrances)

The Summit Museum Visitor Center is open every day from 10 am – 4 pm.!

mount diablo state park

Make sure you pay attention to the fire danger signs! Check with the ranger, especially during fire season!

There are exhibits inside that chronicle the history of Mount Diablo and it also describes the Native American history of this region. There’s also an observation deck with mounted telescopes as well as a museum! (Entry to the museum is free, but you do need to pay for park entrance/parking fee, as illustrated above!)

 

My pictures don’t really do this justice in terms of how steep this actually was, but…it was steep. I was super glad I was wearing my hiking boots, and having a walking stick of some sort would probably have been monumentally helpful, but…oh well. We made it anyway!

mount diablo state park

But…with that picture above, we were only about halfway up that hill! Here’s how much we had left to go!

mount diablo state park

I tend to advocate for wearing a hat and sunscreen + bringing water on pretty much every hike, and this is no exception. The short stretches of shade are far and few in between, but they were very much welcomed!

mount diablo state park

mount diablo state park

mount diablo state park

Fun Facts!
  • The game, Diablo, was named after this mountain (one of the co-founders grew up around there!)! :O I never knew this until I looked it up. In case you care, I got carded when I tried to buy Diablo III. ._.
  • There are some claims of bizarre occurrences here (e.g. mysterious lights, hauntings, phantom black panthers)!
  • If you’re not a fan of spiders, you probably want to come here when it’s not August-October, as that’s when male tarantulas leave their burrows to seek their mates (“March of the Tarantulas”). If that’s your thing, there are guided hikes available to observe their migration!
  • Mount Chillad (featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) is based on Mount Diablo!

mount diablo state park


  • What’s the tallest mountain you’ve ever climbed?
  • Are you afraid of heights?
  • Is there a “peak challenge” where you live? I’ve done 2/3 of the Norcal ones so far — Mount Sizer, Mount Tamalpais + Rose Peak!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.fairyburger.com/mount-diablo-state-park/

12 comments

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    • Ricardo on March 14, 2017 at 12:56 am
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    Many prefer gtav, but gta: San Andreas will always have a place in my heart…and ps2.

    1. hahaha, I guess that counts! :P
      Farrah recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: April 2017My Profile

  1. What a gorgeous hike!

    I don’t know what the tallest mountain I’ve climbed is.. Hmmm! We wanted to hike a volcano in Bali at sunrise on our honeymoon – but the weather didn’t cooperate!
    Kristy from Southern In Law recently posted…A Morning with the Mummies #LifeWithTheJonesesMy Profile

    1. Sigh, I hate when the weather doesn’t cooperate! My friend and I went to Vermont late last year and were hoping to go hiking but it was superrrr rainy and miserable all day so we had to change up those plans!
      Farrah recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: April 2017My Profile

  2. Oh gosh, this would be WAY too steep for me – and I hate spiders, so I could never go during those times. haha It looks beautiful though – I’m glad you had a nice time, even if you didn’t make it to the top!
    ShootingStarsMag recently posted…Show Us Your Books: A Nice Mix of GenresMy Profile

    1. hahaha, it was a fun time despite not making it all the way up there! Sometime, we’ll go again when there isn’t a time crunch! :]
      Farrah recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: April 2017My Profile

  3. This hike looks so pretty! But I would NEVER go there during tarantula season. That sounds like my worst nightmare!
    Kristen recently posted…GNT Training Week 1: Just Keep SwimmingMy Profile

    1. hahaha, I can definitely see why people would avoid it during that time! :P
      Farrah recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: April 2017My Profile

  4. That is steep! What a great time though.
    Our tallest peak is 6000+ and I’ve done some hiking near there… that grade looks pretty intense though!!
    Julie @ Running in a Skirt recently posted…Vegan Rainbow SaladMy Profile

    1. That’s awesome! I was kinda concerned about being able to make it back down in one piece, but thankfully it all worked out!
      Farrah recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: April 2017My Profile

  5. No fear of heights here, but that trail looks steep!! It’s amazing how tough a trail can be just when it’s steeper than normal humans are accustomed to. I would definitely be avoiding the tarantula season…
    Rachel G recently posted…Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory Birthday PartyMy Profile

    1. Agreed! It was a fun challenge though! :P I’d probably avoid during tarantula season just to avoid stepping on em’. I’m weird and okay with live tarantulas but they creep me out when they’re dead. :/
      Farrah recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: April 2017My Profile

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