Mount Diablo Summits from Regency Drive

This route to the summits of Mount Diablo starts at the end of Regency Drive, and climbs over 3000ft to the summits. From the end of Regency Drive, walk down to the Donner Canyon Trail. Make a left and follow the trail about 1.75 miles until the trail dead ends at the Meridian Ridge Trail. Make a right, and the trail will wind up to the top of the ridge before making a sharp turn at the top of the ridge. At this point, the trail climbs sharply at first as it ascends along the ridge top. The trail then climbs in spurts before it makes a final steep climb up to the Prospector Gap Trail at about the three mile point. Go left. The Prospector Gap Trail is fairly level at first, but then climbs rather steeply as it climbs to Prospector Gap. Once at Prospector Gap, you have finished most of your climbing. And you are faced with a choice: right for the true summit or left for North Peak. If you climb to the true summit, you follow the single track North Peak Trail as it climbs up to Devil’s Elbow, where the road to the summit makes a sharp turn. At this point, make a right onto the Summit Trail. The Summit Trail takes you to a higher part of the road where you make a right on the side of the road. A short distance up the road, the road splits up into two one way sections to make the final (gentle) climb to the summit. The Summit Trail climbs in the area between these one way sections. After a short distance, you finally reach the summit parking lot, where you can head for the visitor center or the observation deck to enjoy the view before coming back down. When you feel like it, head back down to Prospector Gap the way you came up. Once you have reached Prospector Gap, continue straight on the North Peak Trail to ascend North Peak. Or go left to return to Regency Drive. Likewise, if you are coming up to Prospector Gap from Regency Drive, you can just head left at Prospector Gap rather than right if you either want to go to North Peak before the main summit or make North Peak your sole destination. The trail to North Peak is a fire trail, which climbs gently at first. But the last few hundred feet climbs VERY steeply to the top of the ridge. Once you are at the top of the ridge, go left a short distance until you reach a metal ramp with a sign indicating the Summit of North Peak. You can climb this up to the antennas to get to the very top of North Peak. After enjoying the view, return the way you came to get back to Prospector Gap (be careful on the steep part!). From Prospector Gap, you can either go right to return to Regency Drive or straight to climb to the true summit.