Enjoying Mount Diablo

I live in a community that is surrounded by hills, mountains and wildlife. One ot the highest peaks in the area is Mount Diablo. It can be seen for hundreds a miles away. It makes for a nice Sunday ride up the hill or an energetic bike ride on a Saturday morning. Here is some background information on the majestic peek.

Mount Diablo is a mountain in Contra Costa County, California in the San Francisco Bay Area, located south of the town of Clayton and northeast of Danville. It is an isolated 3,849 feet upthrust peak that is visible from most of the San Francisco Bay Area and much of northern California. Mount Diablo appears from many angles to be a double pyramid and includes many subsidiary peaks, the largest and closest of which is the other half of the double pyramid, North Peak, nearly as high in elevation at 3,557 feet.

The peak is the centerpiece of Mount Diablo State Park, a state park of approximately 20,000 acres in area. The park was the first public open space of a complex -- according to Save Mount Diablo -- now including 38 preserves, including adjacent and nearby city open spaces, regional parks, watersheds, etc., buffered in some areas with private lands protected with conservation easements. Preserved lands on and around Mount Diablo total more than 90,000 acres.

Except for distant views from the Central Valley, Mt. Diablo's northwestern double pyramid view is most familiar to California residents. This view however includes a minor part of the mountain's acreage, most of which stretches east and southeast from the summit through Altamont Pass to the rest of the northern Diablo range.

Geography: From the summit on a clear day, it is possible to view the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and the southernmost mountain of the volcanic Cascade Range, Mount Lassen more than 180 miles (289 km) away. Owing to the earth's curvature it is not possible to see the larger Mount Shasta, although Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, about 125 miles to the east, can be viewed with a telescope when the atmosphere is exceptionally clear.

The best views can be found the day after a winter storm; during the summer visibility can be somewhat hazy. The summit is accessible by foot, bicycle, or motor vehicle. Road access is via North Gate Road or South Gate Road.

Mount Diablo is a great place for families to recreate.....There is a visitor center, observation points, natural history exhibits, hiking trails, biking and picnicing. Annually there is a Mt. Diable Challenge bicycle race.