In the spirit of the 6 Pack of Peaks challenge I chose to do the 6 Peak Loop in Mount Diablo State Park to get to the top of Mount Diablo. For this hike I started hiking around 8:30 am and made my way up to Mount Olympia which gave me some great views of Clayton and Morgan Territory. After Mount Olympia I made my way up to North Summit which gave me some more amazing views of Morgan Territory and the surrounding area. Both trails to Mount Olympia and North Summit consisted of single track hiking and as you got closer to the top the trail was topped with loose gravel which made the hiking go pretty slow. The trail to North Summit from Mount Olympia was pretty overgrown in some parts and you were hiking right on the side of the mountain. Trekking poles came in handy to help stabilize myself on this stretch as falling down the side of the mountain would have ruined the day. From North Summit up to the summit of Mount Diablo it was more single track hiking up switchback but thankfully the really steep grades were behind me at that time. I got to the top of Mount Diablo around 1:00pm and had a quick lunch and water refill before heading back down. I headed back down the same trail but then diverted to start making my way to Eagle Peak. This was mostly downhill hiking and this was some more slow hiking as the trail was pretty steep and topped with more of that loose gravel. When I reached the Eagle Peak trailhead I had to make a tough decision as to whether I should push on toward the peak or if I should take the fire road down to the parking lot. At this point I was feeling very tired and didn't know if I had another uphill push in me. Since I still had enough time to get back to the parking lot I decided to push on towards Eagle Peak. The trail up to Eagle Peak was some more single track switch backs with some portions of the trail topped with the loose gravel. When I got to the top I was very happy with my decision to push to the top of Eagle Peak and was even more happy with the fact that it was all down hill to the car. The trail from Eagle Peak took me back to the parking lot and on the way down I passed both Twin Peaks and Mitchell Rock witch completed my 6 Peak loop in Mount Diablo State Park. I got back to the parking lot at 5:00pm and had been hiking for almost 9 hours. This was definitely one of the harder hikes I have ever done but it was worth every bit of effort. I would say trekking poles are a must and to bring more than enough water. You can refill water at the top of Mount Diablo but I had finished my Camelback before I got to the top.