We knew we wanted to do an overnight as kind of a final exam for our pack list. We considered doing the Sonoma/Napa overnight at did at Thanksgiving a couple years ago, but couldn’t find a hotel for a price we were willing to pay.

We hemmed and hawed, and eventually decided it would be fun to do something starting from home, and settled on a giant Mt Diablo loop. It would give us a chance to (partially) climb it again, and to show the mountain we weren’t afraid of it, even after the fall from Halloween.

Rain was in the forecast, but plans are plans, and it’s not like we’ll be able to choose whether or not to go on the coastal tour.

So off we went, loaded up, rain gear on, green torpedo armed and dangerous. It sprinkled a bit in the morning as we headed out to Mission. We’ve gone south on Mission many times, but this time we went north though Hayward to go through Dublin Canyon. It turns out Hayward isn’t excited about bike facilities as Fremont. Once we got city lines, the shoulder got crappy, even though the driving lanes were nicely paved. At least the drivers were all nice.

After meandering through Hayward, we made it to the canyon, for the first climb of the day. Mid-way we stopped for lunch at the closed gate of an elementary school, trying to squeeze some shelter out of some trees. We finished the climb, and descended into Pleasanton.

We took the Iron Horse Trail north, which fortunately was pretty quiet (it’s just a little rain, people!).  It stopped raining for a while, so I tempted fate by taking off Ruth’s rain fairing. It didn’t last long, though. It started drizzling again, and by the time we got to Danville we needed to put it back on.

Heading towards Mt Diablo, Anne took us through some country club to avoid some traffic. It dead ended in some residential area, but lo and behold, an extremely awkward gate lead back to the road. We had to take the trailers through separately, but it worked out.

Then up Mt Diablo. We weren’t going to go to the summit, but about half way up, then back out the other side. There wasn’t much traffic, but tons of signs reminding people not to pass during blind corners.

The grade on Mt Diablo is harder than on Hamilton. Anne is still recovering from a cold, and she had a hard time with sections. So when needed, we walked. As usual, I was secretly happy for the break.

We had some confusion over how far it was to our summit for the day. It was further than either of us thought. A heavy fog rolled in. Max dropped a piece of Duplo, testing my reflexes. We saw a stop sign through the fog, but had been tricked by one earlier. Finally, we could see the ranger station at the junction. After putting on a bit more gear (climbing makes you hot, descending makes you cold), it was time to go down.

For most of the descent, we had to keep the speed pretty low. Between the fog, blind turns, switchbacks, and wet pavement, zooming down didn’t seem wise. Near the bottom there were some longer straight sections, where we could let loose.

After being spit out of the park, we made our way over to the Ygnacio Creek Trail, where we managed to pick the side with the poorer riding surface.  That dead ends into Ygnacio Valley Rd, but first we had to get through some rather tight bollards.  My bike with bags could barely fit through, but the trailers definitely couldn’t. So we lifted then over. We had Ruth come out, but Max slept through his little roller coaster.

Just one more climb, a little excursion through a residential area, and we were at the hotel, where the lady at registration was only too happy to give weird looks.

Tomorrow our big climb is at the beginning, as we make our way around the mountain, then back home.