California Photo Scout

Mt. Diablo

Mount Diablo is the highest mountain of the San Francisco Bay Area, a sacred Indian shrine and a Mecca for outdoor lovers. The mountain towers high above the flat surrounding landscape, resulting in a geographic oddity. From the summit, you can see more of the earth’s surface than from any other location in the world, despite its relatively low elevation of “just” 3849ft. Only Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa offers even more viewable land from its summit.

The park also provides a fantastic diversity of picnic areas, secluded or with a view, and no less than three separate campgrounds. The park is a favorite weekend destination for Bay Area Residents. A few easy trails and many strenuous trails reach the farthest corners of the park, offering a fantastic diversity of sights to hard working photographers.

Most visitors choose to explore the park with their cars. Park your car and embark on one of the countless hikes to get the most from your visit! Venture away from the busy roads into pristine nature, rolling hills, forests and brush, and discover the real Mt. Diablo State Park.

How to get there

From San Francisco, take the Bay Bridge (I-80) to Oakland. Merge onto I-580 toward CA-24 (to Hayward). Take the CA-24 east exit towards Walnut Creek, merge onto I-680 south, and take El Cerro Boulevard in Danville. Turn left (east) on El Cerro Boulevard, which turns into Diablo Road. Simply follow the signs to the park. Do not miss the left turn after 2.2 miles onto Mt. Diablo Scenic Boulevard.

From any other area, simply take I-680 to Danville.

GPS position

• 37° 52.907’N 121° 54.85’W

How to photograph Mt Diablo State Park

Rock Climbers

Spectacular views are Mount Diablo’s trademark. On a clear day, you can see Mt. Lassen, nearly 200 miles away.

Start your visit at the observation deck of the Museum / Visitor Center at the peak (GPS marker above). This is a good place for panoramic photography. Panoramic photographs require planning and patience. A minute spent planning can save you hours of fixing mistakes later, assuming you can salvage your work.

Set your camera to RAW mode. This will allow you to equalize white balance for all photographs during the conversion process to create a seamless stitch. Meter across the entire scene (with Aperture Priority mode) to estimate the exposure. Manually set an exposure that agrees with most of the scene and check the exposure reading in your viewfinder again. Sweep across the entire scene and observe the exposure meter in your viewfinder. Make sure you never get more than one stop of over-exposure on any frame (+1EV in your viewfinder). If you do, correct your settings!

Pre-focus your lens then set your lens to manual focus to prevent the focus from shifting. Now take the panoramic photos and leave sufficient overlap between the frames to allow the stitching program to work properly.

Check the references below for more information on panoramic photos.

View of San Francisco from Mount Diablo

To your west, you can see the San Francisco Bay (between the two antennae). You need a 200mm lens to get a similar field of view as in the image above. If you come early in the morning, you have a good chance to have better visibility and less haze than I did.

Wildflowers on Mt. Diablo

Bring your macro lens and a tripod if you visit the park in spring. Wildflowers dress up the lush green hills in April, providing colorful shooting subjects for you. Wide-angle compositions also look fantastic, if you find a large patch of flowers during peak bloom. Get low on the ground, to emphasize the flowers in the foreground while creating the illusion of a large field of flowers. I used the same technique for the Bear Valley flower photo.

kite

Mt. Diablo is home to Red-Tailed Hawks, who circled over our heads. You need a very long lens (600mm) to capture them and you need to use a short exposure time. Change your focus to spot focus and focus tracking (AI-servo). This will make it easier to keep the bird sharp, while you track it with your lens.

High above, kite flyers compete for airspace with the hawks. A 300mm lens will suffice.

Best Time of the Day and Best Season

Mornings are best for photographs of San Francisco, while afternoons are better for photographs of the snow capped mountains and Suisun Bay (Benicia, Concord) to the north. I recommend arriving during the late morning and staying until sunset. The park gates close at sunset. Rangers will not hesitate to lock you in if you do not exit the park by closing time.

The view is best after a clearing winter storm. Spring offers the most color.

Time required

Considering the entrance fee and the abundance of trails, you should spend at least an entire afternoon in the park.

Equipment

• Telephoto Lens
• Lens Filters
• Zoom Lens
• Macro Lens
• Tripod
• Water
  Bring sufficient water when you go on a steep trail. You will need it!
• Hiking Shoes
• Mosquito spray
• Sun Lotion
• Energy bars
• Map
  Ask for a free map at the entrance station or buy a better hiking map in the visitor center on the summit!

Fees

The entrance fee to the park is $10 per vehicle to drive to the top of the mountain or $6 for the Macedo and Mitchell undeveloped trail parking (near the bottom of the mountain).

A night on any of the campgrounds will set you back $30.

Close Locations

• Redwood Regional Park
• USS Hornet Aircraft Carrier
• Berkeley Bay View
• Suisun Bay National Defense Reserve Fleet (Mothball Fleet)
• John Muir National Historic Site
• San Jose Mission
• Treasure Island
• San Francisco
• Shell Refinery (Martinez)
• Locke Historic Town

Useful Resources

• Mt. Diablo State Park Website
• High Resolution Panoramic Photography

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