Mt. Diablo and Cat Sitter disaster

This was supposed to be a weekend away from home, but as they say, one thing you can predict is that something unpredictable will definitely happen.

On Saturday I left nice and early at 8 AM and headed to Mt. Diablo State Park about 2.5 hrs away from home. I was nervous going because a new cat sitter was supposed to be taking care of Kitty, but I met her once and she had great reviews on Rover, plus I explained to her what I wanted her to do. I arrived to the trailhead around 11 AM, assembled my new Osmo Mobile 2 and my cellphone and started hiking. I realized right away that my new gizmo is not gonna work for a long time because my cellphone battery drained faster than I anticipated using the device. This was the first "go wrong" thing. "It's ok," I thought. "I will just use my other cellphone." This was what helped me film some of the clips that you will see below.

The weather for the hike was good, nice and chilly, but the clouds spoiled the pictures I took because of the lack of light. Although I think that the gloomy atmosphere just adds character to the landscape.

Creepy picture, isn't it?

I hiked Mt. Diablo North Peak Trail. Rated as "Hard" by AllTrails, it was almost 7 miles round trip with about 2,200 ft elevation gain. In this cool weather I would rate it "moderately strenuous", but in the summer I bet it would be "Hard". The views were really nice. The trail was moderately trafficked on the weekend, but once you get to the end of the trail, there is pretty much nobody. In fact, the last mile I hiked without a soul around me.

The last stretch of the trail is really hard. The uphill is so significant, you almost need to rock climb.

Going back, the sun started to shine through, hence nicer pictures.

There were also lots of wildflowers around, although not as many as I saw at Hites Cove trail.

After finishing the hike, I wanted to go to John Muir museum, but unfortunately there was some sort of fancy event for the rich, and they did not let me in. Another "fail" of the trip...

I went to have dinner at an Italian place I found on Yelp, but even that was a disappointment...

Read Christy W.'s review of Bella Vita Family Bistro on Yelp

Finally, I decided it was time for me to check in at the AirBnb. This was a lovely place with a great host who made me some tea and gave some cookies. We had a nice conversation over tea and later I went to take a shower in a pleasant room he prepared for me. Great experience!

As the night turned in, I was watching the camera in my house and did not see my cat sitter. She showed up at 3 PM and then left. Around 8 PM, I was getting anxious, by 11 PM I sent her a message, did not receive a response and decided to head back home. She later replied to me, but did not show up to the house until 12.30 AM when I was already on my way. I was angry and frustrated, and tired, but Kitty could not stay alone all night, and I did not trust her anymore to take care of him.

I got home at 2.30 AM and was so relieved to see Kitty... I don't even know how I will find a cat sitter who is responsible enough to show up at a reasonable time.

The weekend ended on a crappy note, but I am still glad I came home. Kitty was happy!

Hite Cove Trail

This trail is absolutely amazing, especially during this time of the year (Spring) when the wildflowers are in full bloom. This trails is about 9 miles round trip out and back. Parking is available on the side of the highway, although I did see an old "No Parking" sign that was so faint, you would not even know which way it's pointing. People parked there regardless.

Best views are at the beginning of the trail, but at the end you will find some history with abandoned coal mining equipment all over and an old shack. The beginning of the trail has some shade from trees, but still most of it in in full sun, especially at noon when the mountains don't protect you from it. I brought sunscreen with me and had to reapply several times throughout the hike. The earlier you start, the better. We started at 9 AM, and I think this was already too late. If you can, start around 6ish, this way you are not hiking back in blazing heat.

Water is essential on this trail. I usually bring 1.5L and have at least half left, but this time I drank the full water bladder.

While the trail runs along the side of the mountain, I did not have my usual fear of heights. It is rated as strenuous, but if you are in a good shape, I would say it is moderate due to distance.

This is one of the best hikes I have done.

Red Hills Loop Trail

It is finally starting to feel like summer here in Central California. Everything is blooming, and the temperatures get to 80s in the afternoon. This is not good for hiking, especially without shade.

Red Hills Loop Trail is almost entirely in the sun. Very rarely do you get to enjoy the coolness of shade. There is a large parking lot at the trail head where you can park at no cost. While you might have looked at the maps before starting the hike, consider bringing one of the topo maps, follow the rout on AllTrails or just use Gaia GPS app. All these additional tools are needed because there are dozens of forks that can take you in so many directions. Some volunteers kindly marked the trail with white paint on the ground, but even with it you can get lost (we did!).

I used Gaia GPS to find the way out by downloading the topo map of the area and visually figuring out the loop to the parking lot. Originally, we were planning to hike the Extended loop, but because we got off track at about mile 4, and awfully hot, we opted for a shorter trail.

I found this trail boring. I saw lots of wildflowers during this season, but besides that the landscape does not change much. It felt like I was hiking forever. I did, however enjoy the drive there from Fresno. There is something about driving through the fields and green rolling hills (the key word here is "green", because very soon it will be replaced by "golden" or how I call it, "yellow and dry").

Stevenson Creek Falls

The more I hike, the more I realize that I will never be able to visit all beautiful places that I want, even within local forests. Stevenson Creek Falls (it does not even have an official trail) trail head is located at the intersection of Italian Bar Rd and Million Dollar Rd. The Million dollar Rd. is actually a private road and is closed to vehicles at all times. The road is owned by the utility company and is accessible to their cars only. It is well-paved throughout the whole hike and very easy to hike.

The views open up really quickly as soon as you start the hike. Depending on the season, you will see a raging (or not so raging at the end of the summer) river on the bottom of the canyon, mountain views and lots of wildflowers in the spring. There are several small waterfalls as you hike to the Stevenson Falls, and they are just as pretty as the main attraction.

There are also 2 caves along the way, one slightly hidden on the side of the road. Not sure what the purpose of these caves, but they are certainly cool!

Once you get to Stevenson Falls, you get an idea of how powerful water could be. The roar of pouring down gallons of water, splashing against the rocks, sprays in your face as the wind blows in your direction. 

Lewis Creek Trail (or most of it)

I remember doing this trail, but for some reason I never recorded it on this blog, hence I looked at my history on Meetup and found it! Apparently, I completed this trail back in November, 2016. Regardless, I barely remembered where it was and what the falls looked like, so I decided to hike it again (yes, against my usual "I need to hike a new trail every time" principle).

I met up with a group of hikers right on Hwy 41, but instead of going north and crossing the creek, we headed south towards Corlieu Falls. This was a nice hike downhill and the views along the whole way did not disappoint.

This is the parking lot we ended up at when we were done at the bottom of the hill.

 The creek was full, so we were not able to cross it to go the northern way, but maybe next time.