• Introducing Mount Diablo, commentary and sounds related to the mountain’s natural heritage and human history.
• Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve, a six-mile hike on the eastern slope of Mount Diablo featuring the rocks, the boomtowns, and nature's remarkable recovery from the largest coal mining operation in California history.
• Mary Bowerman Tour, a gentle but spectacular 1-mile hike focusing on geology and history at the top of the mountain.
• The Trail Through Time, a scenic 6.3-mile survey of Bay Area geology.
• Mitchell Canyon, a 2-mile-long tutorial in natural and human history.
• Rock City, a 1.6-mile walk focusing on history, geology, and plants.
• Rocks, Fights, and Fire at Perkins Canyon, an easy 2-mile loop with 3 optional side-trips, on the east side of the mountain.
• Los Vaqueros Watershed, a 4- to 9-mile walk through one of the Bay Area’s newest and largest parks.
• Grand Loop, a strenuous 6.8-mile jaunt that covers views, history, birds, flowers, and conservation.
• Curry Point, a 6.5-mile hike covering birds, wildflowers, knobcone pines, and the history of Blackhawk Ranch.
• Lime Ridge, a 4-mile ramble through a botanical and wildlife preserve that showcases some important conservation victories in Contra Costa County.
• Round Valley, an 8-mile hike exploring grassland ecology, including eagles, ground squirrels and kit foxes.
• Plants of Twin Peaks, an 8-mile ascent through wildflower heaven.
Maps
- GPS-enabled maps for your smartphone or tablet are available from Avenza Maps. Search with the key words "Mount Diablo State Park", ""Mount Diablo Regional Trail Map", or (for the Rock City tour) "Rock City Audio Guide"
Credits
California State Parks Foundation, Contra Costa Water District, Diablo Country Club and Thomas J. Long Foundation provided financial support. Fingerpicking-champion guitarist Phil Heywood provided the music. Actor Carl Magruder gives voice to the words of William Brewer and John Muir. Scott Hein, Stephen Joseph, and many others noted elsewhere, provided photos.
Well-known Mount Diablo ramblers Seth Adams and Ken Lavin have spent many hours sharing their knowledge and stories for the series. Other voices include Heath Bartosh, Gary Bogue, Kevin Dixon, Sue Donecker, Robert Doyle, Scott Hein, Jean Hetherington, Anne Homan, Brian Kruse, Rich McDrew, Jim Mitchell, Mike Moran, Marguerite Patil, Roi Peers, Adrian Praetzellis, Ray Sullivan, Yulan Tong, Frank Valle-Riestra, and Mike Woodring.
Joan Hamilton, producer of Audio Guides to the Outdoors, narrates.
Joan Hamilton is a writer, editor, and multimedia producer. She writes for
Bay Nature magazine and provides content for
Save the Redwoods League and
California State Parks. She is founder and owner of
Audio Guides to the Outdoors, which has created multimedia guides for
Save Mount Diablo,
Mount Diablo Interpretive Association,
Midpeninsula Open Space District, and
Valley of the Moon Natural History Association at Jack London Historic State Park.
She's written for
Sierra,
Orion,
Mother Jones, the
Nation and many other publications. She's a former editor-in-chief of
Sierra and was top editor at
Climbing and
High Country News.
Questions?
Email Joan here!