February 23rd 2019 – our first big hike! Originially, we had planned to go on this hike much earlier, but the weather did not play along. It turned out to be the perfect day.

We decided to do the Six-Pack original route and started from Mitchell Canyon Staging Area around 10:55 AM. On top of Eagle Peak, we met a fun group of people who provided us with our first snack – mandarins, bread and cheese – and opera music. Not what we expected to find on top of a peak, but awesome!

The following hours, until we reached the summit of Mount Diablo at 3:55 PM, were pretty strenuous, especially for someone like me, who usually goes for more flat hikes. Thankfully, the visitor center was open for 5 more minutes, so we were able to reach the actual summit.

On our way down, we met some people who we leapfrogged along the way. They did not do the Six-Pack challenge, but we did some advertisement and, who knows, there might be more fellow hikers soon. 🙂

The last 1.5 hours of the hike we had to hike in darkness – thankfully we had some headlamps, but it would have been great to see better. We will definitely start earlier for the next peaks. However, we saw tiny rabbit, heard owls and hiked to the sound of the creeks nearby, which was somehow really comforting.

At 6:55 PM we arrived back at Mitchell Canyon Staging Area and rewarded ourselves with a nice dinner and cheesecake in the Cheesecake Factory in Walnut Creek.

Now, we are thinking about which peak will be our next hike!