Date: March 25, 2026
Place: Mount Diablo State Park, Clayton, California
Coordinates: 37.920249, -121.941908
Length: 5.2 miles
Level: Strenuous
Among other things I do I am also leading the Hiking Project of our local 4-H club. Our April hike was planned to Mitchell Canyon on the northern side of Mount Diablo State Park. Mitchell Canyon is a pilgrimage site for me, with or without a group, because it is one of the hottest spots in the Bay Area to see wildflowers in spring time. I know that trail very well and have already posted about it here, twice, so I didn't really need to do a prep hike. This year however, spring has come really early and I wanted to know what was blooming ahead of the hike. Besides, here was a perfect excuse to go there on my own, about two weeks before the actual hike date. As a bonus to myself, made possible because I was there on my own, I decided to explore an extension of the standard wildflowers loop and include Black Peak as well.
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| My hike as captured by my GPS |
The trailhead is past the beautiful botanical garden that's behind the visitor center. The visitor center was closed and I noted that not much was blooming in the botanical garden yet. I wondered what I'd see on the trail. As it turned out, my attention was first grabbed not by a flower but by colorful caterpillars that crawled in the smaller branches of a lovely oak tree by the trail.
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| Pacific Tent Caterpillar |
I did this hike mid-week and there weren't too many people on the trail that day. It was also pretty warm and getting hotter. I was happy for the large oaks that shaded much of this part of the trail.
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| Trail |
The first wildflowers that I stopped at were the Chinese Houses where blooming around the first curve of the trail, after a slight uphill part. I've been on this trail enough time to know that these lovely purple to pink flowers would be there and indeed, they were.
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| Purple Chinese Houses, Collinsia heterophylla |
In the same area where the Chinese Houses bloomed were also weedy, small white-flowered canyon nemophila plants. They reminded me of the fiesta flowers I saw earlier that month in Carizzo Plain. They are of the same family.
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| Canyon Nemophila, Nemophila heterophylla |
The first part of the trail, the Mitchell Canyon Road, is a wide and comfortable dirt road, and it is lined up with gorgeous trees, many of them I know individually. Among them were the lovely California buckeye. The buckeye is the first tree to drop its leaves at the end of summer, and is among the first to bud out in the early spring. In fact, I consider the buckeye budding one of the first heralds of spring in the areas of California where it grows. The candle-like inflorescences of the buckeye were already extended out but they flowers haven't opened yet.
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| California Buckeye, Aesculus californica |
Behind the buckeyes was a large silver bush lupine in full bloom. These lupine blossom is among my favorite spring wildflowers in California.
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| Silver Bush Lupine, Lupinus albifrons |
Also behind the buckeyes was a clear view of the creek and there was water flowing there. The water level wasn't high - the dry March reduced the flow considerably.
At the edge of the creek were a few California poppy plants that were blooming. Mitchell Canyon is home to a great many wildflower species, California poppies among them. Surprisingly however, this plant that is often seen in large quantities was represented here by only a few individuals.
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| California Poppy, Eschscholzia californica |
The dirt road trail crossed the creek over a filled dike bridge with a large pipe to allow the water through. On the other side towered a tall ceanothus bush which was covered in intensely fragrant blossom.
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| Hairy Ceanothus, Ceanothus oliganthus |
I reached the trail junction of the Red Hill connector trail to Globe Lily Trail. Usually I continue ahead, south on Mitchell Canyon Road and loop back north on the parallel, Globe Lily Trail. This time I decided to hike it in the other direction, leaving myself the option of extending this loop farther up to Black Peak. Shortly after I reached the Globe Lily Trail and took it south.
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| Narrowleaf Goldenbush, Ericameria linearifolia |
Right away I was seeing different wildflowers than those I saw along Mitchell Canyon Road. Some of them I didn't remember having seen there before, perhaps because I usually go on late April/early May and now I was there in March.
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| Jeweled Onion, Allium serra |
A few days before my hike I saw reports of a small albino buckeye sapling by that area of Globe Lily Trail. I thought it would be a fascinating thing to see so I kept my eyes peeled for it. Sure enough - there it was. An albino California buckeye. Unlike the albino redwoods I knew from Henry Cowell State Park, the albino buckeye isn't connected by its roots so a nurse tree and once the energy it got from the large nut it sprouted from, the albino buckeye will die, being unable to photosynthesize.
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| California Buckeye, Aesculus californica, albino |
The Globe Lily Trail is a narrow foot path. Walking on it means almost by definition, rubbing against the side vegetation. Little insects jumped away as I disturbed their perches but one of them stayed long enough to get photographed.
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| Painted Meadow Grasshopper |
I knew there were globe lilies along this trail but I didn't know if I was there at the right time to see them bloom. I was very happy indeed to see that they have already started blooming. These globe lilies, or as they are called, "Mount Diablo Fairy Lantern" are an endemic species that grows only in the northern area of the East Bay. They are a real pleasure to see when I go there in spring time.
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| Mount Diablo Fairy Lantern, Calochortus pulchellus |
A good part of the Globe Lily Trail goes through chaparral area. Chaparral is a thick cover of tall bushes of various species. Chaparral bushes are sturdy plants, tolerant of full sun and limited water. They grow thickly together in a thicket that provides shelter to many small critters.
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| Globe Lily Trail |
The East Bay chaparral is dominated by a number of species, one of which is the black sage. The black sage is so called because of the dark shade it assumes during the dry season. Its blossom however, is in lovely lilac color. The scent of the plant's vegetative parts is very strong and overcomes the delicate fragrance that the flowers emit.
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| Black Sage, Salvia mellifera |
Another chaparral bush that I enjoyed seeing blooming there was the California yerba santa - the holly herb. (Not sure why it was so named).
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| California Yerba Santa, Eriodictyon californicum |
Not a bush by definition but taking advantage of its sturdier chaparral comrades was the western morning glory, a vine that rides the woody bushes to reach the sunnier levels.
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| Western Morning Glory, Calystegia purpurata |
Here and there the base rock of Mount Diablo was exposed to view, revealing an intricate story of layers and tectonic movements reshaping them.
Other parts of the Globe Lily Trail are more shaded, and the chaparral replaced by trees. Most of the trees there aren't that much different than the bushes, except that they have single trunks/ Although they are taller, they aren't very tall.
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| Globe Lily Trail |
Different wildflowers were blooming in the shadier parts of the trail, among them wildflowers that definitely prefer wetter soil.
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| California Buttercup, Ranunculus californicus |
Some of the wildflowers I saw along this part of the trail were early bloomers but most were already of the second wave of spring bloom. This year's spring certainly came about earlier than usual.
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| Purple Sanicle, Sanicula bipinnatifida |
The one tree species along that path that couldn't be confused with a tall chaparral bush was the gray pine. Gray pines aren't very tall but they were the tallest trees on this part of the trail.
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| Globe Lily Trail |
Attached to many of the pine trees were the khaki balls of the gray pine mistletoe- a parasitic plant that taps into its host's sap and drains its energy. Mistletoe berries, just like the pine nuts, are staple food for many wildlife species. As sorry as I am for the trees, I also know that the mistletoe has its role in the local web of nature, and it is an important one.
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| Gray Pine Dwarf Mistletoe, Arceuthobium occidentale |
Another vining plant that takes advantage of its woodier neighbors was the pipestem clematis. Clematis flowers are gorgeous. In my humble opinion, clematis fruits are even more beautiful, but at the time of my hike none of these plants were advanced enough yet.
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| Pipestem Clematis, Clematis lasiantha |
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Near the southern junction of the Globe Lily Trail there was another nice patch of the Mount Diablo Globe Lilies and sure enough, I stopped to take more photos of them.
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| Mount Diablo Fairy Lantern, Calochortus pulchellus |
The Globe Lily Trail ends at Red Road, very close to where Red Road splits off from Mitchell Canyon Road. Here I needed to decide - should I loop back on Mitchell Canyon Road, the same loop I have always done, or should I continue to Black Point? It was a hot day already but I was feeling great, and I had plenty of water. I decided to explore where I hadn't hiked before. I took the right turn onto Red Road.
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| Red Road |
Right away I was treated to some more wildflowers. Lots of blue dicks were up - their blossoms towering above the grasses.
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| Blue Dicks, Dipterostemon capitatus |
The slope on my right was south-facing. The vegetation that covered it comprised mainly of gray pines and low, herbaceous, weedy plants. The tiny but prevalent miniature lupine also added its blue to the road side vegetation.
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| Miniature Lupine, Lupinus bicolor |
In the cracks of the dirt road itself grew the pineapple weed plants - a native Californian relative of the chamomile. It smells just like chamomile and it tastes the same when steeped.
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| Pineapple Weed, Matricaria discoidea |
The pine trees were also in bloom. The male cones were most visible, and clouds of pollen blew off them when I gave the branch a gentle tag. Like other wind-exploiting plants, the pine evolved the strategy of producing many and trusting statistics of arrival to female cones of other trees.
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| Gray Pine, Pinus sabiniana |
As Red Road curved, the vegetation became thicker. A big part of it was also because the road followed a fork of the Mitchell Canyon creek.
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| Red Road |
There were 50 shades of green for the vegetation along the trail. Then all of a sudden, a splash of bright red - the red of the woolly paintbrush.
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| Woolly Paintbrush, Castilleja foliolosa |
On the other side of the trail, which was much shadier, manroot plants vined on the bushes and sprawled on the ground, sporting little white flowers strung like beads on thin green stems.
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| California Manroot, Marah fabacea |
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Black Peak was on my right, but from this angle it was impossible to see the peak itself. All that was visible was a long roundish ridge covered in thick chaparral.
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| Black Peak |
The trail curved more and the trees along the trail grew taller. There were mainly tall gray pines and live oaks.
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| Red Road |
The oak trees were also blooming. Oaks, like pine trees, utilize the wind as a pollen carrier. They don't make cones of course, but large, chain-like inflorescences that dangle below the branches.
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| Coast Live Oak, Quercus agrifolia |
There were butterflies flying around me that day, as expected when the wildflowers are blooming. My surprise was that there weren't as many butterflies
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| Mylitta Crescent Butterfly |
Many of these wildflowers I've been seeing regularly along the trail and not only in that specific place at which I took the posted photo. The blue-eyed grass is mostly seen in the open grass areas but I've also seen in in more shaded sections of the trail as well.
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| Western Blue-eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium bellum |
I took my first hydration break at the trail junction with the Black Peak Trail. The thin path stretched north toward the chaparral-covered slops under direct sun and I took a few minutes in the shade of the creek-side trees before heading out into the heat.
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| Black Peak Trail |
While resting I also admired from a safe distance the tiny flowers of a lush poison oak plant that draped down from a nearby tree it was climbing.
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| Poison Oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum |
Earlier last March I was swimming in an orange sea of fiddleneck flowers. Here on this hike I was seeing very few fiddleneck, and those that I did see were past their peak bloom.
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| Common Fiddleneck, Amsinckia menziesii |
Closer to the hills I did see more trees, growing in small nooks along the curves of the trail. One of the first trees I saw was a large dead pine. From a crack in the rotting trunk sprouted a new pine sprout. I doubt this little life would survive to become a tree but who knows.
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Gray Pine |
The trail was following the curves of a thin tributary creek. That creek was dry but the moisture retained in its bottom part was enough to support a few large live oaks. It was nice to enjoy the oaks' deep shade even for a little bit.
A bit further into the trail the oak trees were gone and the tallest tree representative was a blue elderberry which looked more like a large bush. It was also blooming at the time, and looked very lovely.
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| Blue Elderberry, Sambucus cerulea |
The butterflies I saw in that location seemed to be more attracted to the creeping California manroot. One of the butterflied paused long enough fro me to photograph it.
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| Variable Checkerspot Butterfly on California Manroot, Marah fabacea |
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Since the moment I went on Red Road I was going uphill, but the slope was so mild that it was hardly noticeable. The Black Peak Trail started similarly, going uphill at a pretty mild slope. Soon, I knew, the slope would steepen considerably. Meanwhile I was walking between walls of chaparral that flanked my path.
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| Black Peak Road |
Most ferns prefer the shadier, wetter areas, but some fern species have evolved to thrive under direct sun with limited water. The small leaflet coffee fern is such a hardy fern.
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| Coffee Fern, Pellaea andromedifolia |
Once again in the chaparral I was seeing more of the chaparral-characteristic wildflowers. The sticky monkeyflower were prevalent along that part of the hike, and they were not yet at their peak.
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| Sticky Monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus |
Some flowering branches of the sticky monkeyflowers were not going to reach their peak bloom - they were being consumed by some very hungry caterpillars.
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| Variable Checkerspot Caterpillar eating a Sticky Monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus |
Outside of the chaparral, just on the side line of the trail, bloomed tall beeplants. The California beeplant is one of these wildflowers that are really difficult for e to get a good photo of. True to its name, the beeplant attracted bees and I moved on quickly as to not attract those bees to myself.
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| California Beeplant, Scrophularia californica |
Although I could hear birds all around me, most of them stayed out of my sight, and certainly out of my camera range. The first bird I saw that I could also photograph was a large turkey vulture that circled above me.
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Western Turkey Vulture The trail steepened. Not too much at first, but enough to get my heart rate up. It was also getting quite hot and I begun perspiring under my hat and my clothes. |
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| Black Peak Trail |
A bit higher up the trail there were more manroot vine. These were no longer blooming - they were at their fruit stage. The manroot fruit are these spherical gourds that are very spiny.
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| California Manroot, Marah fabacea |
The slope continued to steepen and I slowed down my pace. The heat was becoming unpleasant and I had to take a few more sips of water before continuing.
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| Black Peak Trail |
The vulture that circled above me glided into the hillside. I followed it with my eyes and realized that it landed on a large bush not far from the trail. When I got closer I saw that it wasn't alone - there was a pair of these vultures there. May they were a couple but I didn't see any nest in that area.
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| Western Turkey Vulture |
The trail started switch-backing as the slope got more steep. soon I was huffing and puffing up the hill, pausing here and there to look at more flowers but mainly to catch my breath.
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| Black Peak Trail |
One of the flowering bushes I stop by was a blue witch nightshade. This relative of the potato is, in fact, toxic to eat. It is pretty, though.
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| Bluewitch Nightshade, Solanum umbelliferum |
Another
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| Deerweed, Acmispon glaber |
From one of the switch back corners higher up I was treated to a very nice view of the northeastern ridge of Mount Diablo. While most of it was wooded, the edge of the ridge was open grassland of brilliant green color. A wider view of this ridge is the heads this blog post.
The slope that was closer to me was covered in chaparral and was rutted by several straight down creeks. It looked like a giant cat had clawed down that slope.
The trail curved westward, revealing more of the northwestern view to my eyes. Far on the horizon I identified the sleeping beauty skyline of Mount Tamalpais.
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| Mount Tamalpais View |
On this side of the mountain I was completely exposed to the merciless sun. My progress slowed to a crawl. I was still on a steep incline and the heat added to the burden I was carrying. That part of the trail was also the first time I run into other hikers. They were an elderly couple who came down slowly on the other direction. Both of them looked tired but not lacking energy. The man greeted me and said he did not expect to see anyone else on this trail. I returned the greeting and agreed with his statement.
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| Black Peak Trail |
They resumed their walk downhill and I took a moment to drink some more and to appreciate the full view of Mount Diablo that appeared south of me, now that I was high enough. I noted to myself that I was getting hungry and decided to wait until I reached the summit before I sat down for a longer break, hoping I'd find some shade to hide under.
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| Mount Diablo |
One of the most common chaparral bushes in western California is the chamise. It is a very dominant bush and frequently makes up nearly 90% of the chaparral in some areas. The chamise on the slope I was walking on was just beginning its bloom season. Most of the flowers were still closed but the white petals already visible. This gave the chamise inflorescences the appearance of a pearl necklace.
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| Chamise, Adenostoma fasciculatum |
My sweat dripped to the dry earth below my feet. There I saw tiny belly flowers that grew in cracks and on the sides of the trail.
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| American Wild Carrot, Daucus pussilus |
Some of these plants were really small and their flowers tiny, hence the nickname - belly flowers. Well, I didn't feel like going on my belly at the time, so my photos of these little plants aren't the best.
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| Miniature Suncup, Camissoniopsis micrantha |
Step by step, I was making my way up the trail, cutting through the heat which felt as dense as syrup. My eyes started itching from the sweat.
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| Black Peak Trail |
Just as I started contemplating turning back, the trail curved north and there there was a bit of a downhill segment. Below me spread the view of the north East Bay and beyond.
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| Black Peak Trail |
The vegetation changed too - now that I was no longer on the south-facing slope there was much more greenery flanking the trail, including taller bushes and trees. I relished the shade with every fiber of my overheated body.
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| Black Peak Trail |
In the category of taller bushes/short trees was the western hoptree, a familiar plant I see regularly on my visits to the upper areas of Mount Diablo. This bush is endemic to California and isn't all that common throughout the state, but here are plenty of them in Mount Diablo State Park and they are lovely to see.
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| Western Hoptree, Ptelea crenulata |
In the shade of the taller bushes there was a lush, thick herbaceous vegetation. The miner's lettuce dominated that vegetation and I eagerly helped myself to some fresh tasty leaves.
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| Miner's Lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata |
There were also plenty of other weeds and herbs thriving there, including maidenhair ferns draping from the trail curb with their delicate leaflets as if flowing down a waterfall.
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| California Maidenhair Fern, Adiantum jordanii |
There were other ferns there too in the undergrowth. I didn't pay too close attention to the details so identification was left to the iNaturalist app.
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| Goldback Fern, Pentagramma triangularis |
I have seen death camas plants earlier on the trail but all of them were either done blooming or were trampled or otherwise looked miserable. This death camas was almost done blooming too but still had a crown of nice open flowers.
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| Fremont's Death Camas, Toxicoscordion fremontii |
A short 0.1 mile spur trail leads from Black Peak to the summit of black peak. I checked the time to decide how long of a break I should have there and turned onto the summit trail. Black peak is 1791 ft high and is covered with chaparral. There was no shading tree there, but there was an excellent view south on Mount Diablo's peak.
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| Mount Diablo |
I found a tall enough chaparral bush that I could sit under and find some relief in the partial mid-day shade it cast. As I ate and drank I watched a large swallowtail butterfly hovering over some monkeyflower flowers a couple of yards in front of me.
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| Pale Swallowtail Butterfly on Sticky Monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus |
I sat under the bush for about half an hour. I was a bit more refreshed when I got up and I took a few moments more to look at the view north, toward the Carquines Straits
Eventually I descended back to the Black Peak Trail and started my long way downhill on the north slope of the Black Peak, with the town of Clayton in view below.
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| Black Peak Trail |
The trail on the northern side was just as steep if not steeper than that on the southern side. I was going down very slowly, careful not to slip on the loose gravel that covered the trail. The soil of the trail changed to reddish color and once again I was seeing small, belly flowers growing and blooming in the cracks of the dry, exposed earth.
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| Foothill Deervetch, Acmispon brachycarpus |
Black sage made a lot of the chaparral that flanked the higher part of the trail. I stopped for a little iridescent green butterfly that paused on a black sage flower.
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| Lotus Hairstreak Butterfly |
Further down the slope became milder, much because it was now going in switch backs. There were also more trees and more shade on that part of the trail. Being on the north-facing slope also meant much less direct sun. And - I was going downhill. All of those factors contributed much to my elevated spirit and higher energy.
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| Black Peak Trail |
Another big contributor to my happiness was the appearance of many wildflowers again on this part of the trail. I was especially happy to see nice, full-flowered larkspur plants. I've seen them earlier on the hike but none more beautiful than those that were blooming on the north side of Black Peak Trail.
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| Zigzag Larkspur, Delphinium patens |
In a couple of places I needed to bypass fallen trees. One tree fell just from below the trail, taring it and leaving a deep hole in the path. I had to carefully bypass it on the side of the uphill slope.
Being in the shade and going downhill meant that I could go down at a much faster pace. I did so, but then I also stopped a lot for the wildflowers that were along my way.
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| Hillside Woodland Star, Lithophragma heterophyllum |
Many of these wildflowers I was well familiar with from previous hikes in this park and in other Bay Area parks.
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| Pacific Pea, Lathyrus vestitus |
Some of these wildflowers were already at their peak bloom time. The coast paintbrush usually blooms a bit later but then again, spring arrived really early this year.
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| Coast Paintbrush, Castilleja affinis |
I noticed a special-looking clover on the trail side and stopped. The tomcat clover isn't an uncommon species but I usually see it after it had already done blooming.
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| Tomcat Clover, Trifolium willdenovii |
Lizards were a common enough sight on my hike but only two of them I was able to photograph. The one that posed for my on the descend was the best one. It was a good day for reptiles in Mount Diablo.
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| Western Fence Lizard |
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| Mount Diablo North Peak |
I encountered plenty of insects on my hike, butterflies and more. The hunters of the insects laid in ambush in their webs. Some of these spider webs were really pretty, especially when the sunlight hit just right.
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| Spider Web |
For some of the plants the fruit or seed head is even prettier than the flowers themselves. I took care to not disturb the seeds and blow them away prematurely.
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| Silverpuffs, Uropappus lindleyi |
I was surprised to see that the clarkias have started blooming already. They are of the later bloomers. Yet another evidence of the early spring.
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| Chaparral Clarkia, Clarkia affinis |
Even with the wildflowers stops I was getting downhill pretty quickly. The lower part of Black Peak Trail became a much wider dirt road. The witch Backs also became longer.
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| Black Point Trail |
I was now low enough to have a good view of the details on the other slope across Mitchell Canyon. A large dark rock that protruded from the otherwise gentle slope caught my eye.
The trail kept switch-backing and when I was facing north I had a good view of the much softer, grass covered lower slopes of Mount Diablo and the opening of Mitchell Canyon.
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| Black Peak Trail |
The trail switch backed again southward. I was getting very close to the bottom. Then I saw something that made me stop in my tracks - a big rattlesnake was stretched at the edge of the trail. It looked fat - the bulge in its mid section indicated it just had a good meal and was merely digesting now. It didn't rattle at all, but it did flick its tongue at me, sniffing me in the air. I took a few photos and passed it carefully, sticking to the other side of the trail.
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| Northern Pacific Rattlesnake |
Still excited about the rattlesnake I made it to Red Road and back down to Mitchell Canyon Road. From there it was a quick walk back down to the trailhead and the parking lot.
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| Mitchell Canyon Road |
I debated myself weather to warn my 4H group about the possibility of seeing rattlesnakes on the hike but when the group hike date came about two weeks later, winter seemed to have returned. It was cold and even rained a bit. I said nothing about snakes, I knew no snakes would be out that day. The flowers were still there, even in greater numbers. Mitchell Canyon always delivers.
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