"Imagine sunrise in Clayton, breath steaming in the cool morning air. Donner Creek to the Falls Trail and over to Danville, one canyon after another, single track trails back toward Mitchell Canyon. Maybe thirty miles. Deer browse, paying no attention, coyotes pass by, groups of quail scatter, you might even see a mountain lion, but you pose no threat. You cover longer distances than hikers you're riding a horse.

"Santana" carried me part of the route today, courtesy of Western Trail Ride Adventures on Castle Rock Road in Walnut Creek. I was accompanied by trail boss Gary Segal and a dozen kids from a YMCA summer camp. Segal looks the part but started riding late in his life. Now he introduces several thousand new riders to the mountain each year. As for me, I've hiked the mountain for twenty years but had never ridden a horse. With a thousand pounds underneath me, I was a little hesitant but Santana patiently followed my inexpert lead. I would simply lay the reins on one side of her neck or the other and she'd avoid overhanging branches. A slight pull and she'd slow for other horses. Before long my mind was quieted by the combination of massage and meditation. From four feet up, the views are startlingly better and you experience the mountain with a quiet clarity unlike anything I had experienced.

The week before, I queried equestrians, advocacy groups, and 92 year old George Cardinet. He is perhaps California's most famous equestrian and the "Father of the trail system in California," according to the California State Horseman's Association. Why? To get a handle on what it's like to be an equestrian on Mount Diablo and to answer a decade old rumor: since the adoption of the State Park's General Plan in 1990, when cattle grazing was limited in the Park, there has been a fear that horses might be next

Mount Diablo and Contra Costa have been horse country for 225 years...from the days of the first Spanish expeditions to Alta California in 1772 and 1776, through the 1940s when the inland East Bay was largely agricultural, to the modern day. According to George Cardinet, "In the days of the Spaniards, you didn't travel very far without a horse." Cardinet, whose father bought a 52-acre ranch in Clayton in 1939, has been a horseman in Contra Costa for more than sixty years. He is a founding member of the Heritage Trails Fund, and one of the visionaries who proposed the 3,000 mile California State Riding and Hiking Trail and the 1,800 mile Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail. "Most of Mt. Diablo was private land" said Cardinet, "There was the top...The Murchio family had a broad section of the foothills, they were the most cooperative, they let us ride through. Most of it was open range until the 1930s and '40s. The ranchers would get together every year and have a common roundup. The main problem was motorcycles..." leading to the fencing of much of the mountain's private ranch lands.

In the 1920s and '30s equestrian groups throughout the County lobbied for Mount Diablo State Park's creationWhen the Park was dedicated in 1921, prior to the creation of the California State Park System, it had its own Mt. Diablo State Park Commission. James Hoey, a Martinez horseman, was the Commission President. According to State Park Superintendent Larry Ferri, "The equestrian community has had a long history of stewardship in the Park, including assistance with trail construction and repair, and volunteer trail patrols.""The Park's trails and roads are generally the result of effort by the horsemen, who also constructed the horse camp at Barbeque Terrace, at Mitchell Canyon and at Pioneer Camp," said Cardinet, "The first old trail the horsemen opened was the Middle Trail up to Big Spring, which was the site of a still during Prohibition."

Advocacy and Expanded AccessWhen Save Mount Diablo was formed in 1971, there was just one park high on the mountain, 6,788 acre Mt. Diablo State Park. The group has acquired or championed some of the mountain's most beloved equestrian areas and trails -- Mitchell Canyon, Macedo Ranch, Round Valley and the Riggs Canyon-Finley Road staging areas. All four are low elevation sites suitable for equestrian access; the last is a work in progress and acquisition of a parking area large enough for horse trailers is a high priority for the groupAlmost a third of the Directors on Save Mount Diablo's 17-member Board are equestrians. One of them, Danville resident Bob Marx, has ridden for more than forty years, rides three days a week, and recently competed in his 8th Tevis Cup (the Western States 100), a hundred mile endurance race. "I used to ride on farmers' land in Wisconsin, but you had to stick to fence lines and access was difficult from one farm to the next. I was really happy to get involved in preserving the mountainI love Mount Diablo for its isolated majestic beauty, for its variety of species and terrain, and for its vistas. Diablo has among the best access of any urban area for equestrians and other recreational users. I can ride for days if I want. I'm most proud of Save Mount Diablo's dedication to expansion of public lands all around the mountain to allow for greater recreational opportunities." Dozens of horse and riding groups are found locally and advocacy groups are becoming more common around Diablo, too. The Heritage Trails Fund was formed in 1982 by Castle Rock Arabian owner Nancy Dupont, George Cardinet, Gary Segal and others. In the past year ECHO, the East County Horseman's Organization, and ACES, the Alameda County Equestrian Society have also both organized. Along with Save Mount Diablo and the East Bay Area Trails Council, all of these groups seek to ensure additional public access.

"The equestrians on our Board of Directors make sure that equestrian uses are preserved and expanded and ensure that other Board members and agency officials understand equestrian issues," said Save Mount Diablo's Bob Marx, "There are fewer stables, but there's more land and miles of trail. As long as we have good staging, then riders can continue to access more of the mountain."ACES organized for similar reasons in Eastern Alameda, based on the decline of ranches and horse facilities. In The Independent Magazine (June 7, 2001) ACES member Larry Gosselin, a well-known Livermore Valley equine veterinarian and owner of Collier Canyon Ranch, estimated that locally "the number of horse ranches has declined about 65 percent in the past 20 years." Lorraine Kianuma, ACES' president, "says she has seen a "significant decline" in the number of horse facilities in the eight years she has been in the Tri-Valley area."

Access Has Never Been Better...but stables are in trouble, given high land prices, and horse ownership is shifting eastward. A surprising number of East Bay residents keep horses in their backyards and many of them choose to live near the mountain's parks and preserves. Although most equestrian access is found on the north and west sides of the mountain, increasing acquisition and advocacy to the east, on the front lines of development battles, hold the potential for greatly expanded recreational access.

More than 81,000 acres are preserved on and around the mountain in nearly twenty parks. There is tremendous support for equestrians on the mountain and most agencies have no intention of limiting equestrian access. The State and Regional Parks have been the most supportive. State Park trails have grown to include 125 miles, and regional parks and local open spaces around the mountain include 200 miles more. "We are really pleased that Mount Diablo is such a popular place for equestrians," said MDSP's Larry Ferri, "In addition to the many local horse owners who use the park, more and more visitors are 'trailering in' long distance in order to ride Mount Diablo's trails."
SMD's efforts to create corridors between the parks to allow longer rides by equestrians.

If just two small gaps east of Diablo are acquired, for example, equestrians and other recreational users will be able to make sixty to one hundred mile circuits around the mountain without leaving public parks.

The major hold out has been the Contra Costa Water District. Although the Water District has cooperated with the Park District on the Contra Costa Canal trail system, it has provided very limited mileage of multi-use trails at Los Vaqueros. Trail gaps at the 18,500 acre watershed frustrate efforts to allow riding and cycling from the mountain and Morgan Territory south, but the access controversy has brought recreational groups into closer alliance than ever. These new alliances may lead to greatly expanded access in the near future.

In the meantime, take your kids on a moonlit trail ride with Western Trail Adventures. If you've never ridden, you'll have found a new way to appreciate Mount Diablo. You'll also understand George Cardinet's point of view: "As long as we can ride the trails, everyone will be happy."

- Excerpts published with permission of the 'Save Mount Diablo', Seth Adams, Director of Land Programs
-To view the entire article: 'Save Mount Diablo' www.savemountdiablo.org/Features.htm