RON HENGGELER

This is a photo of her sweet little pooch James.

Our plan for the day was to drive up to the nearby summit of Mt Diablo to watch the sun go down.
On our way out of Danville, we saw several times, deer grazing in front yards and flower beds.

One of the picnic areas along the Southgate Road in Mt Diablo State Park

The far-distant Mt Tamalpais seen from Mt Diablo.
Mount Diablo is a mountain of the Diablo Range, in Contra Costa County of the eastern San Francisco Bay Area.
It is located south of Clayton and northeast of Danville.

The far-distant Mt Tamalpais seen from Mt Diablo with a 300mm lens

In 1851, Mount Diablo’s summit, long a landmark for California explorers, was established as the official base point for California land surveys. Even today, Mount Diablo’s base line and meridian lines are used in legal descriptions of much California real estate.

A view from the Observation Deck atop the Visitors Center at the summit of Mt Diablo

Mount Diablo has a remarkable visual prominence for a mountain of such modest elevation. Its recognizable form and looming presence over so much of the bay, delta, and Central Valley, and good visibility even from the Mother Lode, all key regions during the gold rush and early statehood, made it not just a well-known visual touchstone but an important landmark for mapping and navigation.

Mount Diablo is sacred to many California Native American peoples; according to Miwok mythology and Ohlone mythology, it was the point of creation.

Prior to European entry, the creation narrative varied among surrounding local groups. In one surviving narrative fragment, Mount Diablo and Reed's Peak (Mount Tamalpais) were surrounded by water; from these two islands the creator Coyote and his assistant Eagle-man made Indian people and the world.

In another, Molok the Condor brought forth his grandson Wek-Wek the Falcon Hero, from within the mountain.

Scorched pine from last September’s fire on Mt Diablo

Scorched pine from last September’s fire on Mt Diablo

Scorched Manzanita from last September’s fire on Mt Diablo

The waning last hour of daylight and the beginning of sunset

Several colorful yarns describe how the mountain got its name. The most popular account supposedly arose from an 1806 expedition of Spanish soldiers from San Francisco Presidio who marched into the area to do battle with the local Indians. In the midst of the fighting, a shaman clad in striking plumage appeared on the mountain. The Spaniards were convinced they saw El Diablo—The Devil—and quickly retreated.

The conventional view is that the peak derives its name from the 1805 escape of several Chupcan Native Americans from the Spanish in a nearby willow thicket. The natives seemed to disappear, and the Spanish soldiers thus gave the area the name "Monte del Diablo", meaning "thicket of the devil." Monte was later misinterpreted by English speakers as mount or mountain.

One attribute that makes the name Mount Diablo appropriate is that the mountain glows red at sunset.

Geographers claim that hikers can see more of the earth’s surface from the top of Mount Diablo than from any other peak in the world with only one exception: Africa’s legendary 19,340-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro.

The far-reaching panorama from Mount Diablo is all the more impressive considering the mountain’s relatively short (elevation 3,849 feet) height. Two reasons for the grand views: the mountain rises solo very abruptly from its surroundings, and the land surrounding the mountain—the San Francisco Bay and Central Valley—is nearly flat.

Geologically speaking, the mountain is a bit odd in that the hiker climbs over successively older and older rocks on the way to the summit; this is exactly the opposite of the usual progression.

A Mt Diablo trail-hiker on the Observation Deck photographing the setting sun

The triangular shadow of Mt Diablo cast on the landscape and atmosphere many miles away

The triangular shadow of Mt Diablo cast on the landscape and atmosphere many miles away seen with a 300mm lens

A spontaneous shot of the new Bay Bridge’s tower taken while driving back to San Francisco after a day on Mt Diablo