The Morgan Fire - Mount Diablo

The fire from Mitchell Canyon

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a run my wife and I did up on the North Peak of Mount Diablo.  It was an awesome run and it opened up an entirely new side of the mountain to explore.  Yesterday, I went out to start the barbeque on a bright and very warm Sunday to find that the mountain was on fire.  

From our house it looked as if the fire was coming from Mitchell Canyon, so I piled the family in the car to see where the fire was coming from.  We live 2 miles from the Mitchell Canyon trail head, so it didn’t take too long to see that the fire was actually behind North Peak.  In fact we made it just in time to see the brown shed I had come across on the peak explode in flames.

We then drove over to Marsh Creek Road to see that the fire was there off of Morgan Territories.  This is serious horse country, so there were so many folks getting their horse out of the different boarders, with our neighbors leaving late last night when they were alerted that their stables were now threatened. There are also 75 homes threatened.

This morning, the fire seems to be more focused on the Diablo Summit side, with North Peak no longer smoking. It just seems surreal that I had run the areas that are in flames.

North Peak Trail will be looking different for awhile.

My wife is just sick about the fire.  Most of our runs are on this mountain or in the foothills around it.  So it is so sad to see it in flames. 

However, to some degree it is reassuring that in an odd sense this will be good for the mountain.  Fire has such a cleansing effect and it will be exciting to see how it repairs itself over the years.  There has been an increasing amount of poison oak and goat head thistle on the mountain as well as other evasive species.

It just means that running will need to be more concentrated on the west side of the mountain.

CAL Fire reloading water to fight the fire on Sunday off Marsh Creek Road.

I would like to thank the firefighters fighting this blaze.  You have a hard job and it is really appreciated!

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!