Distance: 4.9 miles
Elevation change: 600 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Hiking time: Two to five hours
Trail surface: Dirt
Best season: Winter and spring
Managing agency: Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation
Trailhead location: Sutherland Drive entrance to the open space (parking lot)
Parking: Sutherland Drive, Walnut Creek
This delightful hike offers a little bit of everything, from shaded canyon single-track trail to ridgetop vistas and majestic flower displays to fossils. Although this hike can be enjoyed year-round, by far the two best seasons to enjoy this hike are winter and spring.
This moderate hike offers excellent opportunities to take a closer look at the geologic and natural forces that shaped Mount Diablo.
Immediately and to your right at the beginning of your hike at the Sutherland entrance, you will be rewarded with an amazing abundance of native wildflowers.
At full bloom, this stunning display represents the effort and hard work of a dedicated group of local volunteers who are helping native flora regain a foothold after years of overgrazing.
Please take only pictures and stay on the marked trails before you continue on the Fossil Hill Trail and drop down to the Indian Creek Trail. It’s very important not to crush the flowers! See our blog post on Leave No Trace principles and ethics.
This portion of the hike begins just past the seasonal pond and invites you to enjoy the meandering nature of this gently ascending trail.
The trail passes by an ancient oak. Photo by Mel Bearns
It follows the natural path of the drainage channel, lined by majestic oaks that have stood for several hundred years.
At the end of Indian Creek, turn left onto the Briones–Mount Diablo fire road and saunter up toward the power line tower, where you will bear left and pick up the Ridge Top Trail on Fossil Ridge.
Follow the undulating single-track trail along the ridgeline, which offers fantastic panoramic views on all sides. Cross over the fire roads at Grinder Gap to continue on the single-track trail until you reach the descent back into Indian Valley.
Oak woodland in spring at Shell Ridge Open Space. Some places that look like just grass may bloom later in the year with wildflowers. Photo by Mel Bearns
Bear left at the bottom to head back to the trailhead past Indian Valley Elementary School. Be on the lookout for fossils that were deposited here when this valley was a shallow inland sea 10 million years ago.
Speaking of fossils, the hill at the entrance to the Shell Ridge Open Space is called Quarry Hill; it’s where materials used in the construction of the Mount Diablo Summit Visitor’s Center were obtained.
This area is a fantastic place to explore with children, who will delight in discovering fossil fragments and hunting for embedded seashells.
You might see this wildflower (Collinsia heterophylla) from the trail at Shell Ridge. Photo by Philip Bouchard | CC BY-NC-ND
