Mt. Diablo

April 2018 Total Miles: 13.3 Mitchell Canyon to Summit Loop

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Why am I hiking Mt. Diablo?

I wanted to hike Mt. Diablo for several reasons. The first being that this is the mountain next to where I great up. I have a lot of great memories being a kid and spending many hours here with friends in high school, but I never hiked to the top and back. I also wanted to hike here and back for training for my big trek to Machu Picchu coming up. Finally, I wanted to hike to the top of Mt. Diablo solo to prove to myself that I had the courage to do it.

I’ve lived in the Bay Area all my life and grew up only a couple miles from Mt. Diablo. I’ve biked to the top before, but realized I had never hiked it. So I set off on an adventure to do it. WOW, this hike is pretty hard. What’s hard is balancing the climb with the heat. I left at 8:30 AM but it was already hot. I drank 4 liters of water just to the summit then refilled at the top. Tip: A shade umbrells is a must - I have this one. It was 92 degrees at the hottest. When I got home I was WIPED out and think I had a bit of heat exhaustion/stroke as my head and body were just toast. I’m SO happy I did this hike. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.