Save Mount Diablo’s Fourth Annual Pine Canyon Cleanup
Our fourth annual Pine Canyon Cleanup was hosted in partnership with the Bay Area Climbers Coalition, American Alpine Club, Mount Diablo State Park, and East Bay Regional Park District.
It was a major feat in collaboration, showing the amazing things we can do when we work together for a larger goal.
We extend a heartfelt thank you to the American Alpine Club for the grant that helped make this event possible.
Volunteers caught a glimpse of a rainbow after a morning of hard work. Photo by Frenchy Hendryx
Though there were intermittent showers that weekend, we didn’t let them rain on our parade, and it didn’t keep our volunteers away.
In just one weekend, we completed eight volunteer workdays with over 100 participants, racking up more than 400 work hours on Mount Diablo.
Removing Graffiti in Rock City
Over the weekend, our volunteers met at Rock City to do something that’s been needed for a long time—clean up years of graffiti that have accumulated on this special part of the mountain.
To remove the graffiti without harming the rocks, we painted a solution made of mostly lye over the graffiti, let it sit, and then rinsed it off. It drew the paint out of the rocks so that when it got rinsed, the graffiti went with it.
There was a lot of graffiti to remove! Photo by Mary Nagle
Unfortunately, graffiti has been a longstanding problem on Mount Diablo; some of it can contain hateful messages and images.
It’s important that we protect the natural beauty of places like Rock City by working together to ensure that they remain as free of graffiti as they can be.
Photo by Mary Nagle
Tackling Weeds and Debris
Another group met at Curry Point to give the fire roads some love. They cleaned up trash and cleared debris off the road to prepare it for chipping.
Photos by Frenchy Hendryx
Meanwhile, in the Diablo foothills, our hardworking volunteers spent the morning pulling out weeds—particularly stinkwort and horehound. After a few hours, we were able to remove numerous large trash bags filled with invasive plants from the area.
Photo by Roxana Lucero
Giving the Sunset Trail Some Love
Yet another group spent the weekend working on Mount Diablo State Park’s Sunset Trail, maintaining the trail to keep it accessible to hikers. As anyone who’s done this type of work knows, trail maintenance can be strenuous work!
It was awe-inspiring to see that many people gathered to spend their weekend getting their hands dirty, maintaining trails and helping keep Mount Diablo accessible.
We’re grateful for the newly formed Mount Diablo Trails Alliance for bringing a lot of volunteers out to work on the Sunset Trail during our fourth annual Pine Canyon Cleanup.
Thank you to all of the incredible volunteers who donated their time and energy to take care of Mount Diablo!
