Distance = 22 Miles; Elevation Change > 7600 feet
Lo Elevation = 141; Hi Elevation = 3408
The day started out well. A radio station from Maryland phoned me for a half hour interview. It was 7:00 a.m. our time and I did the interview from my sleeping bag lying under our tarp. Earlier that morning it was pouring pretty hard and I was dreading breaking camp, but by the time of the interview there was a pause in the rain and we broke camp with a measure of hope.
The hope was dashed before too long. The rain made the trail conditions very slippery and difficult. Both a great deal of physical and mental effort was required to make our way down some very steep grades on the other side of Mount Diablo. We reached the town of Clayton on a pace of barely over one mile an hour and I thought there would be no way we would reach our rendezvous with Ky before Contra Loma Park closed.
The sun finally came out by this time. We decided that the “Mudville Grill” we encountered was an omen and stopped in for some nachos. What the heck? We weren’t going to meet our destination anyways so we took an hour break. But the sun did its work fast and the trail conditions leaving Clayton were close to ideal. We were treated to marvelous landscapes in the Black Diamond area and made Contra Loma Park before it closed as well!
