Mount Diablo — Mitchell Canyon / Eagle Peak
Clayton, East Bay · near Clayton · SF Bay Area
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- loop
- Distance
- 7.6 miles
- Elevation gain
- 2,198 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Oct–May · Brutal in summer heat (little shade on the ridge)
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- State Park; ~$6 self-pay parking at Mitchell Canyon. Gate opens 8am. Dogs prohibited on trails.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Eagle Peak knife-edge ridge · Mitchell Canyon spring wildflowers · Sandstone · Sweeping Central Valley/Diablo views
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Go clockwise (up Mitchell Canyon, down Eagle Peak) for gentler grades, and carry 3+ liters — no water and no shade past the canyon floor.
The guide
The wild, hiker's-side of Diablo — a steep, exposed loop up Mitchell Canyon to the airy summit of Eagle Peak, a genuine alterna…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mount Diablo — Mitchell Canyon / Eagle Peak — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.9195, -121.9424