INCH Hike: Five Peaks of Diablo

702. Five Peaks of Diablo (11/27/09)

Hikers (30): Alan B, Chinyet, David, Diane, George, Helen, Isai, James S, Janice, Jeff, John, Karl, Kirk, Linda L, Mike, Paul, Paul R, Peter, Robert, Rudi, Rufina, Sabine, Sandra, Sarah, Stacy, Steve, Subho, Susan, Suzie, Walter
Distance: 19 miles
Rating: 5 difficulty, 9 beauty
Park info: Mt. Diablo State Park near Clayton

Peter owes a writeup! -- Pictures by Karl

19 miles (advertised as 17), 6200 feet elevation, people taking wrong trails all over the place, cold howling wind, a little bit of hail, a 2-hour torrential downpour, and 4 flashlight-less people coming in after dark. In other words, a great hike!

A lot of people needed to burn off Thanksgiving dinner

The skies were overcast in the early going ..... it got worse later

Wheeeee!! Look at the fishies!

Heading down Mother's Trail (if you've every walked up it, you know where the name came from)

Looking at North Peak from below the Diablo Summit -- so near and yet so far

The treacherous steep climb up to North Peak (actually it's coming back down that's treacherous)

Heading up to Olympia -- the final peak!

Subho bags Olympia

Looking back up at North Peak from Olympia

Ominous rain clouds moving in ..... and then came the downpour!

We tried looking at the remnants of Linda's map after the downpour to figure out where the hell we were

Peter can smell the beer at the end of the trail

Kudos to Diane for realizing she had gone the wrong way on her solo early start, catching up and passing most of the group, and still finishing in time to get to her gala social event. Happy 21st birthday!

Also, my thanks to Helen for leaving me chocolate at the top of Mt. Olympia (how come no-one else saw it???). And my thanks to Jeff for bringing the stragglers in after dark.

Milestones:
Highest point in Contra Costa county
Helen's 80^th leaf
James S's 10^th leaf
Paul R's 10^th leaf
Sarah's 90^th leaf