Diablo Summit - Mitchell Canyon, North Peak Trail, Bald Ridge Trail, to Eagle Peak

Mitchell Canyon floor

Finally, with a day off and a wonderful and patient wife, I was able to make the loop to the summit of Mount Diablo - up Mitchell Canyon and Juniper Trails and down North Peak, Bald Ridge and Eagle Peak trails.  The temperature was just right and while a bit of smoke from a fire up at Lake Berryessa, the sky was clear.

Eagle Peak from Mitchell Canyon Trail

I am pretty used to summitting from Mitchell Canyon and Juniper Trails.  In fact, as I have stated before, Juniper has been my favorite trail on the mountain for some awesome technical single track.  However, having only run down North Peak (with some good single track) I wasn't sure what awaited on Bald Ridge or Eagle Peak trails.

Bald Ridge from Mitchell Canyon

My wife had run much of Bald Ridge and said I would enjoy it a lot and "was very runnable."  The clue should have been more that I would enjoy this trail since she knows my hankering for some really good technical.  I misunderstood the very runnable part.  It is, but beats Juniper in the technical category, a tough feat indeed.

The run was pretty uneventful up Mitchell Canyon.  All fire road, after the first 2 miles the real climb begins and continues to Juniper Campground.  This is a great place to fill up your water bottle.  Next is Juniper Trail, 1 mile and 900 feet of climbing to 3,810 ft. summit.  I spent a little bit of time here and then began my descent.

North Point Trail through the fire zone.

As short run down Summit trail will connect you with North Peak Trail.  This will take you through areas that were affected by this years Morgan Fire.  This is a bit of nice single track with the occasional drops and dips through loose rock and chaparral. Last time Beth and I ran through here we ran into some wild hogs.

After about 1.5 of descent you reach Prospector's Gap.  Here you are given the choice of either running up to North Peak, down the Gap Fire Road, down Meridian Trail (wide fire trail but has been torn up from the fire equipment), and Bald Ridge Trail.

Wonderful views from Bald Ridge Trail.

Eagle Peak from Bald Ridge Trail

Bald Ridge Trail is a wonderful roller coaster single track through oak and pine forests and is peppered with rocky outcroppings and loose rock.  Most of the trail is covered and, as my wife stated, pretty runnable.  Just note that there will be times when you will come to a grinding halt because the rocky sections.  Once you are through these forests you are treated with the trails name sake - Bald Ridge.  You are treated with some awesome views of Mitchell Canyon, North Peak, Eagle Peak, Clayton Valley, and the Sacramento Delta.  After you reach a slight climb to the little summit, you drop down into some nicely groomed single track that takes you to the Eagle Peak, Back Creek Trail, and Meridian Trail intersection.

I was pretty beat by this point and was tempted to drop down Back Creek or take Meridian Trail back to Mitchell Canyon Trail; however, I stuck with the original plan- take the Eagle Peak Trail to Twin Peaks and then down Mitchell Rock trail.

Bald Ridge Trail from Eagle Point.  Back Creek Trail is on the left.

Ever since we have been hiking and running out of Back Creek Trail and Mitchell Canyon trail I have wanted to take Eagle Peak.  Pretty much like when I graduated from the intermediate slopes to black diamonds in skiing, Eagle Peak seemed so foreboding.  I would look longingly at this trail every time we would climb up out of Back Creek only to settle on running back down Mitchell Canyon.  Today would be the day.

I would breakdown Eagle Peak Trail into 4 sections - the drop down across the ridge, the climb up to Eagle Peak, the and the descent to the Pine Trail cutoff, and then down to Pine Trail.  At the Pine Trail Cutoff you can take another trail to Twin Peaks which connect to Mitchell Rock Trail.  I took the first 3 sections then over to Twin Peaks.

The climb up Eagle Peak.

The first section went pretty well.  Keep in mind there is a pretty steep drop on the Back Creek Trail side and that it is pretty rocky.  The climb up to Eagle Peak was a little bit of a challenge.  It is steep and again pretty rocky.  It is worth the climb because you are treated with some very nicely groomed single track during the third section down Eagle Peak.  That said, you have to keep your wits about you since you are running in very tall chaparral and the trail isn't marked very well.  You will find that the trail may split into two trail, with one leading off to oblivion.  Other parts of the trail gets pretty rocky and drops a few feet.  But  again this trail is really fun.  

By the time I got to Twin Peaks my legs were pretty tired from what was the most technical run that I have had in a while.  From Twin Peaks, more single track along the Mitchell Rock Trail, mainly switchback through pine and grasslands.  We had taken the kids through this section back in the spring and the wild flowers were beautiful through here.  This part of the trail went pretty quick and dropped me back to the staging area.

With 13.6 miles and over 5,100 feet of elevation gain, this was an awesome run. Other than the Mitchell Canyon section, it was all single track and mostly technical.  This run has quickly ascended to one of my favorite runs!

Mount Diablo Peak to Peak to Peak Trail

Sunday morning in Castle Rock Regional Park

Well, when I said that I would be posting less I didn't mean posting only two posts this month.  However, I am having computer woes ( mine died) which means that I have to borrow my wife's until I can afford a new one, hopefully soon!





That said,  there has been a lot of running with my goal for the month to build my base by running an average of 30 miles a week.  I did well the first two weeks and slipped the last two weeks.  However, I have though finally blasted the roadblocks of the last few months where I run just enough to feel uncomfortable to not enough to build a solid base.

Just outside China Wall

This week has been awesome though.  My wife and I have been able to squeeze in two runs up on Mount Diablo.


On Saturday, we took our traditional run through Castle Rock Regional Park over to China Wall and back.  The sun was just coming up over Diablo with a nice bit of high clouds providing wonderful shadowing across Pine Canyon.  It was an awesome run.

Deer off of Burma Road

Right above Sunset Trail, off Burma Road, I came across a doe and two of her yearlings.  They were unimpressed by me and allowed me to get within 10 feet of me before they slowly made way off the trail.  Most of the deer on Mount Diablo are pretty wild and pretty jumpy around humans which made these deer pretty different.

Trail up to North Peak.

Today, our kids went back to school, with our oldest beginning middle school and our other kids beginning a new elementary.  I took the day off to walk them to school and help with the adjustment.  After, my wife and I decided to drive to the top of the mountain to explore the trails around North Peak and Prospectors Gap.

 




I have been wanting to get up to this area since I have been looking for alternatives for summiting other than Juniper Trail ( wonderful technical single track that is great to run down!) from Mitchell Canyon.  It was in the eighties when we got up there which made for a warm run (normal for Diablo).

First we took the quick 0.7 mile loop at the top, then took Summit Trail to North Peak Trail.  This is a real nice piece of single track also!  Half way down we came across a bunch of hogs, which I have never seen on the mountain.  Once we got to the Prospector Gap intersection, and our prime objective completed, I continued up to North Peak while my wife headed back towards the car.  

Mount Diablo's North Peak

North Peak is a nice climb with the final 500 hundred yards being steep and pretty loose, however, I made quick work of it.  The peak itself is not as nice as the main mountain is in full sun.  After a couple of moments I turned around and headed back to the car.

Once back to the car, my wife suggested I run down Juniper Trail and she would drive down to the campground.  I never pass on technical so I was game.  Besides I wanted to see if I could beat her down by foot.  She arrived four minutes before I got down, but I was really satisfied with our run.

It was definitely a great run and felt very strong and best of all two special runs with my wife!

Mitchell Canyon: Black Point Trail

Post Diablo Challenge, I am getting back to a normal running and cycling routine and looking forward to the next major event on July 6^th, a twelve hour timed event. This meant that last week I was able to get in 23 miles of running, including exploring a new trail out of Mitchell Canyon: the Black Point Trail.

My wife headed out early on Sunday for what ended up as a 6.6 mile run with close to 2,000 feet of elevation gain.  Our ran began through the single track grasslands on the north side of Mount Diablo, past the frog pond we discovered last month on our Eagle Peak run in April, and up to Mitchell Canyon Road.  About a mile and a half up the canyon, we made a left up White Canyon to connect with Black Point Trail.  

Black Point Trail is all single track and loops back from White Canyon back to Mitchell Canyon Trail with a serious climb up Black Point.  The south side of the trail is more creek bed than trail, with plenty of loose rock.  The climb continues up through scrub brush with views of the Diablo Valley, and overlooks much of the trails in Castle Rock we normally run.  Once we summit, I was looking forward to some serious downhill; however, the first half mile of this part of the trail was not groomed, which meant climbing through a serious jungle before we could really start running.

Once past the jungle, it was a nice run downhill with pretty well groomed switchback.  The views of Mitchell Canyon were spectacular.  Two thirds down we stopped for a little break and my wife commented that she wondered if we had picked up any ticks.  At that moment I saw one climbing up my running shorts, which I quickly flicked off, followed by another running across my shin, and a third embedded in my gaiter.   Now, since experiencing ticks is new things to our family, my fear of these terrible pests is starting to wane.   However, while I have respect for these creatures, they show up in the most peculiar places, like at this point in the run we were standing in a wide open space and I am not sure if I had picked them up while we were in the jungle or just standing in the wide open.  They clearly liked me over my wife.

Once down, we ran back the way we came, through the grasslands and back to the car, again checking each other for ticks (queue Brad Paisley).

We probably won’t be trying that route again, even though it has some nice single-track in some areas.  But it was nice just to get out and run a bit in the hills.

For more photos of the run and the trail, check out my wife's blog here.