once home to five coal mining communities
that extracted low-grade coal from the hills between about 1860 and 1920. Though
once inhabited by several thousands, the buildings were all moved or dismantled
and all that remains are some tailings, some exotic trees planted by the
residents, and the Rose Hill Cemetery located at the base of Rose Hill. I didn't
leave San Jose until 9:30a, timing my drive up the East Bay to avoid the morning
rush hour. I planned to spend about an hour driving, three hours in the park,
and an hour driving back.
I reached the entrance kiosk off Sommerset Rd around 10:45a, happy to find that
the unmanned
kiosk meant free entrance today - finally, a reasonable method of
running a park - I hate those self-pay stations. There were several dozen cars
in the 
parking lot at the end of the road when I arrived. It would be
fairly full when I returned - a very popular park with the local residents of
Pittsburg, Antioch and the surrounding communities. The hike to the Rose Hill
Cemetery
takes less than 15 minutes, and that was at a leisurely pace with stops to read
and photographs the nice 
information plaques
that are peppered along the way (and throughout the park).
After wandering through 
the cemetery and reading a number of the
grave markers, I left via the west gate and started up the
grassy slope to Rose Hill. There is no sign or
maintained trail leading to the summit, but the entire area is grazed by
cattle, making it a relatively easy (albeit steep) cross-country effort. The
Spring rains have painted the hills a brilliant green - much greener than the
hills in the southern part of the range I had been hiking in the past few
weeks. From the summit one can see north to the delta and
the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. To
the south rises the massive of Mt. Diablo, less than five miles
distance, and 
rolling green hills in all
directions. The summit of Rose Hill is large and rounded and covered in tall
grass, making it impossible to locate the benchmark indicated on the topo map.
To the south, little more than a mile away, rises an unnamed ridge crowned with
communication towers just outside the southern boundary of the park. This ridge
has more than 900 feet of prominence, several hundred feet higher than any point
within the park, and it was to this that I headed next.
I dropped down the 
West Ridge of Rose Hill to the old
Nortonville site. There were specimens of coal rock found on the
ground, in tailings, and in the 
conglomerate rock along one side of
the Black Diamond Trail. This trail follows in a curve around the west and south
sides of the park, climbing close to the higher ridge I was heading for.
Portions of 
the trail are paved - the access road for
the communication installations - but there is no regular vehicle traffic. The
trail is also part of a longer 
trail system
through Contra Costa County
that runs across the park and into Mt. Diablo State Park. In fact it is also
part of the American Discovery Trail that
runs across the entire country.
A 
gate
marks the park boundary where the pavement runs to the summit ridge and
the Black Diamond Trail continues east on a dirt road. I went through the gate,
hiking to 
Pt. 1,894ft in another 15 minutes. From the topo, one gets
the impression that this point elevation is the highpoint of the ridge, but
looking east I could see what appears to be a higher point about a quarter mile
distance. My GPS read a relative elevation difference of about 16ft, making me
conclude that the eastern point was indeed the highest. It was a better point
anyway, without a bulldozed summit and a tower marring it. There was a small
cairn, but nothing else to mark 
the summit. I took a few
pictures and then
dropped northeast down the 
grassy slopes under oak trees, back into
the park and eventually onto the 
Black Diamond Trail once again.
At this point I was probably 15 minutes from finishing the hike and returning
via the downhill trails to the parking lot. But as I passed over a saddle just
south of Pt. 1,535ft, I got it into my head to head up to the point via what
looked to be a 
use trail leading up from the saddle. This point is
just
south of Rose Hill, across from the cemetery, and the one hill in the entire
area that is covered not by tall trees or grass, but very thick brush. In fact
it looks impassible from the north side, but the use trail proved very helpful
in reaching the
non-descript summit. A path had been cut through the brush by
unknown persons, probably not park personnel. There is
graffiti cut into the
sandstone rocks at the summit and beer cans can be found littering the site -
it appears to be, or once was, a hangout for the local youth. Had I returned
the way I'd come up, it would have been an easy 10 minute diversion, but once
again I decided to go bold and find another way down. I followed the use trail
northwest
across the summit and down that side, and this proved to be the
biggest mistake. I either lost the cut trail or it disappeared as I found myself
having to choose various branches of a deteriorating trail. It was soon obvious
I was on a game trail, first stooping
under the brush, then crawling. I was lost
in a sea of thick, dusty brush, laughing at myself for finding myself in such
a predicament in a regional park, of all places. I was wearing a short-sleeve
shirt which meant my forearms got all scratched and bloody, but luckily I had
a pair of leather gloves with me to keep my baby hands soft and supple. To add
to the fun, I found a profusion of
poison oak as my thrashing got me nearer to
a ravine. Joy, o joy. I had to be careful in crossing the ravine, then picking
my way through the underbrush until I eventually found my way to the edge of
the grassy terrain - saved by cows once again. My right arm was bleeding in
several places as I hiked down the trail past the cemetery and several parties
that gave me odd looks but were afraid to ask questions lest I should prove to
be some sort of pschopath that had just finished dispatching his latest victim
in the bush.
I was 
back
to the car by 1:45p, making for a three hour outing as planned,
though perhaps not as gentle as I had expected. This got me home by 3p and
avoided the afternoon rush hour traffic. This is the main reason I tend to head
south rather than north for my local peakbagging - it takes a lot more planning
to get sanely through the Bay Area when heading north. Whether I like it or not,
I'm going to have to do it a great deal more in the future if I'm going to
continue to make headway on the CC list as most of the remaining ones I have to
do are all north of San Francisco Bay...