For a while and in addition to the backpacking trips on my calendar, I have been putting together several 'car camping' trips for this year and a trip to Mount Diablo State Park near San Francisco Bay was the first to come up on the calendar. The drive over on Saturday afternoon was uneventful, though it was a bit gloomy and with fresh snow over Donner Pass, I was a little concerned at how dry the trip would be. It turned out okay though and I arrived at the park by about 4 pm. The signage entering the park is a bit confusing. My site reservation simply listed the site name as "JU Standard Site". The first campground I past was called Junction Campground. The campsites here were completely vacant, but served my purposes and so I picked one and started setting up camp. A short time later a ranger came by and corrected me. My reservation was actually for Juniper Campsite . . . both start with JU . . . how could I know, lol. Anyway, he was fine with my staying here and so I continued with my campsite preparations.
The evening got a little chilly, but after a quick dinner hoping into my warm sleeping bag quickly fixed that issue. The night was quiet (with no one else nearby) and I slept pretty well, though I woke bright and early at about 4:30 am. I crawled out of my bag and put on some fresh clothes. Surprisingly, my tent held the warmth pretty well and it wasn't all that cold until I zipped open the rain cover. Almost immediately as I started preparing some breakfast, I heard some rustling in the nearby bushes. I went over to investigate and met a curious (and probably hungry) raccoon. He seemed very calm around me, indicating that he was a regular visitor to the campsite. I gave him a little gesture and yell, and he was off back into the woods, allowing me to continue making breakfast and breaking camp.
I was on the trail by 6:30 am, but the fog was so dense, I could barely see. It made for a pretty cool hike. I did have a few rain drops fall on me, but my recent visit to Tennessee, numbed me to that little concern. It never amounted to any significant rain. The trail itself twists and turns through the yellowish-gold hillsides spotted with the occasional green island fashioned from small trees above the grasses.
The area of these hillsides was obviously burned recently, as there were charred reminders of that everywhere, but the vegetation is coming back strong. The trail heads pretty relentless uphill towards an unseen mountain top, thanks to the dense fog. Finally, though I reach the parking lot at the top of the mountain and see the beautiful antique stone building housing a large spotlight. Reading a bronze panel, I see that he 'light house' was used to ward plans away from the mountain prior to WWII, but was discontinued at that time so as not to direct the Japanese to the mainland. Exploring the attached observation deck, I'm thrilled with the view. The clouds and fog are below the summit, which makes for some breathtaking scenery at this time of morning. Though, I cannot see as far as others have reported due to the cover layer, the angelic nature of cloud-covered landscape more than makes up for it.
Turning to head back down the mountain, I encounter a few more hikers making their way to the top. Shortly thereafter, I reach the jeep and head for my next destination. All in all, the hike was only about 4.6 miles, but the scenery was outstanding.
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