Little known waterfalls around Mt. Diablo

Mount Diablo State Park and parks connected to it. See Save Mount Diablo to buy a good map.

Mount Diablo State Park
Unnamed creek flowing southwest from Eagle Peak

• Waterfall on the southwest side of Eagle Peak at (37.899216, -121.94031):
  gps coordinates estimated from map, reliability unknown
  
  Seen from Mitchell Canyon Road (easily reached from the Mitchell Canyon entrance). I suspect it's hard to get much closer.
  Beauty: 7
  Duration: 2.5 days after a significant rainfall
  Height 150 feet
  Number of drops 3
  Terrain: moderate brush, little or no trail
  Last visited 2010-01-23
  id: diablo.1
Unnamed creek flowing south from the ridge just south of Eagle Peak

• waterfall at (37.897218, -121.937134):
  gps coordinates estimated from map, reliability unknown
  
  Seen from Mitchell Canyon Road.
  Beauty: 6
  Duration: 2 days after a significant rainfall
  Height 135 feet
  Terrain: moderate brush, little or no trail
  Last visited 2010-01-23
  id: diablo.2
Unnamed creek flowing east from the ridge just north of Eagle Peak toward the Meridian Point Trail

• waterfall at (37.903787, -121.932113):
  gps coordinates estimated from map, reliability unknown
  
  seen from the Meridian Point Rd:
  
  There appear to be at least two 15 foot falls here, maybe more up in the cliffs. I expect to hike up to the lower ones next time I'm there.
  Beauty: 6
  Duration: 6 days after a significant rainfall
  Height 15 feet
  Terrain: moderate brush, little or no trail
  Last visited 2011-03-20
  id: diablo.3
Unnamed creek flowing northwest from the intersection of North Peak Rd and the North Peak Trail

• waterfall at (37.89719, -121.90948):
  
  I didn't find a good view of this. It appears to become vertical about where it disappears near that tree. It's right where this creek joins the creek to its north
  Beauty: 5.5
  Duration: 7 days after a significant rainfall
  Height 10 feet
  Terrain: steep slopes with rock outcroppings
  Last visited 2011-03-20
  id: diablo.11
• waterfall at (37.89543, -121.90834):
  
  view from a ridge 1/4 mile north:
  
  view from near Mt Olympia Rd:
  
  view from near Mt Olympia Rd showing it above and to the right of Wild Oat Falls:
  
  view of the quasi-waterfall just downstream (the waterfall is hiding in the cliff to the right of the visible part of the creek:
  
  Beauty: 8.5
  Duration: 7 days after a significant rainfall
  Height 30 feet
  Biggest vertical drop 6 feet
  Terrain: cliffs
  route: Please admire it from one of the ridges to the north. I reached the falls by crossing the creek above the falls and descending on the southwest side. Do NOT do that. If there's a route to it that's not unusually dangerous, it's likely to involve descending through some trees that show in the last photo directly above the part of the creek that is visible in that photo.
  Last visited 2011-03-20
  id: diablo.12
Unnamed creek flowing from North Peak to the bottom of Wild Oat Canyon

• waterfall at (37.89691, -121.90813):
  
  Videos:
  
  Beauty: 7.5
  Duration: 10 days after a significant rainfall
  Height 15 feet (broadly defined)
  Height 13 feet
  Biggest vertical drop 7 feet
  Number of drops 1
  Terrain: steep slopes with rock outcroppings
  Last visited 2011-03-20
  id: diablo.9
• waterfall at (37.89593, -121.90581):
  
  This has no clear-cut bottom. My investigation was hasty due to light hail and limited time to cross the difficult terrain to a more promising waterfall.
  Beauty: 5
  Duration: 10 days after a significant rainfall
  Height 10 feet
  Terrain: steep slopes with rock outcroppings
  Last visited 2011-03-20
  id: diablo.10
Wild Oat Canyon Creek flowing west from the saddle just south of Mt Olympia

• waterfall at (37.89905, -121.90810):
  Name: Wild Oat Falls
  
  from the ridge just west of Mt Olympia Rd:
  
  wider view from the same spot, with another 30 foot waterfall visible in the distance (higher and to the right):
  
  Can also be seen from Meridian Ridge Rd (more than a half mile to its west
  Beauty: 9
  Duration: 12 days after a significant rainfall
  Height 35 feet (broadly defined)
  Height 30 feet
  Biggest vertical drop 15 feet
  Number of drops 1
  Terrain: steep grassy slope
  route: from where Mt Olympia Rd starts up a ridge that sticks out to the west of Mt Olympia, walk a short way west on the ridge, and if it's flowing enough to be worth getting closer you will easily spot it to your southeast. You can head roughly straight toward the bottom end of it.
  Last visited 2011-03-20
  id: diablo.8
Unnamed creek flowing west from Mt Olympia into Wild Oat Canyon

• waterfall at (37.89940, -121.90692):
  
  the lower part:
  
  the upper part:
  
  shown on the left, with Wild Oat Falls on the right:
  
  this is probably best described as two 15 foot falls
  Beauty: 6.5
  Beauty: 8 (including beauty of the hike to the falls)
  Duration: 3 days after a significant rainfall
  Height 50 feet (broadly defined)
  Height 15 feet
  Biggest vertical drop 6 feet
  Number of drops 2
  Terrain: steep grassy slope
  route: from where Mt Olympia Rd starts up a ridge that sticks out to the west of Mt Olympia, head toward Wild Oat Falls (south-southeast)
  Last visited 2011-03-20
  id: diablo.7
Sycamore Creek

• at (37.83691, -121.91850):
  Name: Sycamore Creek Falls
  
  A well maintained fire road passes quite close to it, and if you look carefully you can see where the top of the waterfall is from the fire road, but be careful choosing your route down to where you can get a view. If you start down near the falls, it's very steep. Farther downstream is flatter but beware of poison oak and blackberries. I'm surprised that there's virtually no path to a nice waterfall within shouting distance of a residential area.
  Beauty: 7.5
  Duration: 40 days after a significant rainfall
  Height 22 feet (broadly defined)
  Height 17 feet
  Biggest vertical drop 2 feet
  Number of drops 2
  Terrain: woods, little or no trail
  route: Follow Sycamore Creek Rd down to where it ends at private property, then go back upstream until the road is about 25 feet higher than the creek. Look for a safe route down to the creek and follow it upstream. There are several ways to reach Sycamore Creek Rd: from Rock City down the Trail Through Time, from Curry Point via Knobcone Pt Rd and Devil's Slide Trail, or go up Black Sage Rd (starting in the parking lot of a soccer field on Black Hawk Rd) and turn right just before the fire road ends.
  Last visited 2011-03-10
  id: diablo.4
Unnamed creek flowing south about halfway between Curry Point and Knobcone Point

• waterfall at (37.84837, -121.92689):
  
  looking down from the top:
  
  Beauty: 5
  Duration: 12 days after a significant rainfall
  Height 7 feet
  Biggest vertical drop 2 feet
  Number of drops 1
  Terrain: well-maintained trail
  route: follow the Trail Through Time down from Rock City
  Last visited 2011-03-10
  id: diablo.6
Unnamed creek flowing south about halfway between Curry Point and Knobcone Point

• waterfall at (37.84439, -121.91114):
  
  Beauty: 5
  Duration: 10 days after a significant rainfall
  Height 10 feet (broadly defined)
  Height 6 feet
  Biggest vertical drop 3 feet
  Number of drops 1
  Terrain: well-maintained fire road
  route: From Curry Point, follow Knobcone Pt Rd east, the turn right onto a fire road (either called Black Hawk Ridge Rd or marked as leading to that). At the second point where it crosses a small stream, this will be on the uphill side of the road.
  Last visited 2011-03-10
  id: diablo.5
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