On December 5, 2015, we went to Diablo State Park to try this excellent little hike. Point Black (1791′) is far less popular than its taller neighbor Mount Diablo (3848′), so very few people appear to use the trail. We only passed one other hiker the entire ~5 mile loop.
We parked at the Mitchell Canyon Visitor Center close to the Black Point trailhead. The park guide on duty recommended that we take the loop in the clockwise direction (most first-time hikers go counterclockwise) so that we would tackle the steepest straight portions during the ascent. This saved the north face’s winding switchbacks to the descent, which was a lot of fun!
Activation was easy this time: seven QSOs in under 20 minutes, all on 2m. As usual, I brought my Yasesu FT-60R with a 3-element handheld Yagi.
2m QSOs: KQ6DI, KE6DLT, N6OJ, NO6PS, KG6N, W6XZZ, AF6RL.
Tom Zajdel 