Mount Diablo State Park
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Mitchell Rock Trail Mount Diablo State Park |
April 22, 2023
Hoping to cash in on the alleged "superbloom" on Earth Day, I head west to a big park that I visited a couple of months ago, during the muddy season.
A lot of flowers are being advertised
Starting Out
Within five minutes, I already regret having bothered to wear a long-sleeved shirt. I hope that I don't also regret my inexplicable failure to bring my walking stick on a new route.
The defunct Mount Zion Quarry
Turning onto Mitchell Rock Trail
Pacific Pea
California Buttercup
Tomcat Clover
Hillside Woodland Star
The city of Clayton to the north
The trail winds gently but relentlessly uphill. Lot of flowers are present, but that is expected here on any spring day.
Mitchell Rock
California Poppies on the hilltop
View to the west
A rare patch of shade
A dozen hikers have overtaken me already, partly because I am stopping a lot for photographs, and partly because I am two or three times their ages in most cases.
Blow Wives
Drummond's Onion
Purple Owl's Clover
Towani Pine
Shooting Star
Broadleaf Filaree
Physciaceae Fungi
Red Larkspur
Nuttall's Larkspur
Sand Fringepod
Garden variety
Caterpillar Phacelia
Giant Red Indian Paintbrush
The trail begins to get rough from here. I probably will not enjoy coming back down without my walking stick.
Eagle Peak is way up there
Having climbed 1,100 feet already, I stop to take stock at a trail junction. The tentative plan was to continue up to the ridge top, then loop back down through Donner Canyon to the east. The route up to Eagle Peak is another 800 feet of clearly rough going, though, and it is becoming uncomfortably warm.
The combination of difficulty, heat, and a seeming dearth of energy are just enough for me to abandon the big loop and head back down. Perhaps this route won't be as rough as the other one.
Starting back
This new trail is easier walking
It also is hotter and drier on this side of the hill. Oh, well. There are a bunch of new flower varieties, however.
Miner's Lettuce
Buckbrush
Indian Warrior
Bluewitch Nightshade
Sticky Monkeyflower
One of the Twin Peaks
Barestem Biscuitroot
Pacific Blacksnakeroot
Blue Bugle
Pipestem Clematis
The relentless 15% gradient is wearing out my knees
Scarlet Pimpernel
Silver Lupine
Common Yarrow
Johnny Jump Up
Blue-Eyed Grass
Miniature Lupine
Off the hillside now, my knees can relax
Sea Thrift
Ithuriel's Spear
§: Well, even though the hoped-for superbloom failed to materialize,
I did shoot nearly forty flower varieties today. Soon it will become too
hot to come here at all, but countless others will do so anyway.
The aforementioned rough spots on the trail doubtless would not bother younger folk whose sense of balance has not yet been somewhat compromised.
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