Diablo (SDC #53, 2460′) • map • directions*

When Matt and I parted ways early this Sunday morning, I decided to go back to sleep. We’d camped in Oyster Shell wash near Split Mountain, the focus of yesterday’s adventures, and the wind had picked up over the night, whipping hard and rocking the truck.  I climbed into the passenger side of my truck and managed to get a few good hours before going about the day. It was still gusting hard and I was a little concerned about my hike to Diablo. 

Diablo was the last SDC peak I had in the area and I was expecting an easy one. I milked the last few sips of my coffee before making the long drive over dirt roads to the entrance of Sandstone Canyon, a fun drive I’d done just last December. That last time I’d passed Sandstone Canyon on my way to Hapaha Flat, but this time I would drive into Sandstone intself. The turnoff was marked with a small sign and soon I was driving between sheer walls, narrow in some spots.  I eventually parked just before a paint-scraped squeeze between a rock and a hard place, about a mile deep within Sandstone Canyon. It was 11:30am. 

I walked briskly through Sandstone Canyon, enjoying the imposing walls and unique features. After about a mile I started looking for a way out . I walked a few minutes past a sign that prohibited further vehicle progress and reached an area where the vertical walls subsided into manageable class 2 slopes, and hiked up. 

It was a bit loose but footing was decent and I reached Diablo BM in no time. I ran into a geocache first, thinking it was the register. Inside was a new watchband still in the packaging and a sealed package of Napoleon Dynamite mints. I returned the items then spotted the traditional two-can summit register.

Getting hammered by wind on the exposed ridge, I didn’t stay long, returning to calmer conditions in Sandstone Canyon twenty minutes after leaving Diablo BM. I spoke briefly with a family from Poway who’d hiked a few miles to get here and I explored a side slot canyon but didn’t get too far. Once back at the truck I drove back out to Fish Creek wash before pulling over to change clothes and get something to drink. I stayed for a while, enjoying my last minutes in the desert. After much time off with an injury the previous year, it had a been a while since I’d had much time out here. It was good to be back.

*-the driving directions get you to the entrance to Sandstone Canyon