Trails to Acorn Woodpecker Tree 0358

            I had to get out the map for this one. (Scroll over the image to see the trails and other landmarks.) There are nine trails that can get you to where the most families of Acorn Woodpeckers flourish. I'll mark them on this photo. What you see here is maybe 5% of Mt. Diablo. It's Walnut Creek Open Space saved in bits and ad large tracts from development by the Save Mt. Diablo group. Ranchers donated and sold quite a bit of the land. 

Probably 90% of the trees you see are Interior Live or Blue Oaks. They're the only trees that can stand a 13 year drought. Well, other than Yucca and cactuses - yes, cactuses. They're huge. They're the favorite trees for at least five species of woodpeckers, but the dominant one is the Acorn Woodpecker. Whatever you do, take plenty of water. I had heat stroke once while just doing three miles of bluebird nest boxes. It wasn't a pleasant experience. Fortunately, I literally passed out on a hay bale at the ranch where I used to park. 

The main trail is the Costanoan which leads to Ginder Gap when the "Acorn Woodpecker Tree" is. I named it while it was still standing: it was easier than giving directions. Four trails intersect at Ginder Gap, and four trails can be taken to let you explore the flank of Mt. Diablo from 200 ft. above sea level to 850 ft. from which on a clear day you can see the Carquinez Strait where I get most of my shorebirds (11 miles), San Francisco (25 miles) where I rarely go, Sacramento Delta for raptors (75 miles), and behind where I'm standing, the Sierra Nevada mountain range which is ... or used to be a three to four hour drive. (You can find out all about the mountain by looking up "Mt. Diablo" on Wikipedia. I wish the map that I used for nine years was somewhere on line. 

To my left is the Ridge Trail. Toward the end of my hiking days, the words you wanted to see least were "Ridge," "Vista," and "Ravine." Buckeye Ravine Trail (behind me) is less than half a mile taking you from Diablo Foothills Regional Park and Shell Ridge Trail to Castle Rock Park. It's not really a trail as much as it is a death trap. Starting at Castle Rock Park to the top of the trail (to get to wherever you parked at a trailhead) is a 1,000 foot rise. You can do it in the half-mile or, to extend your life span, six miles up Ridge Top Trail to Sugarloaf to Shell Ridge to car. (Btw, Buckeye Ravine is named for the beautiful Buckeye trees native to the area. The flowers are the sweetest smelling anywhere in North America. The problem is that the trees bloom for only 30 days, about the length of time to haul your sorry butt out after you still took the trail when I warned you.)

Mt. Diablo, of which all of this is a part, has had a recorded high temperature of 114 degrees and a law of 22 degrees over the past century. But I've hiked these trails in 110 degrees and 40 degrees: all I can say is that it's extreme, beautiful, and I can think of no other place I'd rather be during a normal week of hiking. (For vacations, I'll take Sequoia, Mt. Rainier, the Sierras, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons. Yes, Banff and Jasper, but my memories of those two are from 14 days in 1976, and I have a hunch that Banff is no longer a sleepy little town.)

So, let me get this posted so I can point out some of these spots. The main trail you see is Costonoan: above it and two other ways to Ginder Gap are Ridge Top and an unmarked Willow Spring - don't let the name fool you. Almost every one of the seven ponds have signs, "Do Not Drink The Water. Hazardous. No Fishing. No Swimming. No Kidding." 

P.S. By the end of June, this will all be dead oak grass and the mountain will be golden.

Taken in: United States / California / Cowell (show map)

Taken on: May 16, 2011

Tags:

Coatonoan Trail to Ginder Gap

Acorn Woodpeckers

Buckeye Hill Trail

Mt. Diablo Foothills. « less

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Camera: Canon PowerShot SX20 IS, f/4.5, 1/800 sec, 5mm, ISO 125 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon PowerShot SX20 IS
Aperture:	f/4.5
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/800)
Focal Length:	5mm
ISO:	125
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	ACDSee Pro 6
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