Mitchell Rock Trail to Counter Pines Trail is a 3.6 mile loop trail located near Clayton, California that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, running, and nature trips.
kid friendly
hiking
nature trips
walking
running
forest
wild flowers
wildlife
no dogs
Beautiful hike with lots of peaks and vistas. For beginners like us, this was a tough 3.5 hour hike including breaks. First portion is mostly uphill, then on the way down from twin peaks, there’s lots of loose gravel that was slippery. Very rewarding, but challenging. We didn’t see a single other hiker the whole time. Ending on a service road was a nice respite.
The trail splits early in and we chose to go left first. If doing it again, I’d probably do right first given that the decent in our case was pretty rocky and slid a lot. It had great views of Mount Diablo and the surrounding area. The grasslands on the approach with the oak groves were pretty fantastic. Watch out for poison oak after the grasslands as there is a lot.
Hiked this trail again earlier this week from the end of Montaire Parkway in Clayton, and did it clockwise. I also hiked out and back up to the top of Eagle Peak. This is one of my favorite hikes on the mountain. Beautiful views. Lots of wildflowers.
Nice hike. I think I would do it the other way around because Eagle Peak Trail has a lot of small rocks/talus for long stretches of trail that you can slip on.
