Type of Hike
Day hikeTrail Conditions
Trail in good conditionRoad
Road suitable for all vehiclesBugs
No bugsSnow
Intermittent snow - not hard to cross
Got to what we thought was a very misfortunate trailhead in Diablo around 1:40pm but was actually an off-trail short cut. Real trail starts to the right of the trail information sign and on the other side of the small building. Trail was snow free and and people free until we caught up with a few hikers taking a break at the river crossing, where snow was intermittent but pretty compact (we were both in trail runners and shorts and had no issues). Headed up to the switchback sections and ran into a curious black bear foraging around. After giving the bear some space and informing our fellow hikers further down the trail we were able to traverse around and get back on the trail. Plus we got to hang out with a group of marmots sitting in the rocks.
The views on the way up had been mostly obscured by low cloud cover with occasional glimpses of the surrounding peaks. The last push to the summit on the ridge (about .5 of a mile) was all snow covered but again pretty compact. Right as we arrived at the top, greeted by a friendly group of three young hikers and their father, the wind blew away some cloud cover, revealing great views on either side of a variety of peaks, Diablo lake, and a few others. Left the summit around 4:30 and got back to the trailhead at 5:45.
