Black Diamond Mines is a supremely amazing park. The hikes are easy, the scenery breathtaking, the history interesting. And where else can you walk into a salt mine? It’s worth it, too — the mine is deliciously cool.
Just take a look at these stark, striking views:
The area is very historic, and was the site of three mining towns. Black Diamond Mines was first a coal mine, then a salt mine, before the parks district bought it. See the changes in the valley — here’s an historic photo on an interpretive panel, and below is the photo I took of what it looks like today:
You can see the trees and the valley have filled in.
Here is the visitor’s center – carved out of a mine. Way cool. Look at the striations in the ceiling– this is all salt.
If you are age 7 and up, you can take a tour of the Hazel-Atlas mine (separate shaft from the visitor’s center). You have to pay extra for this, but some days they have it free. We were there on Mother’s Day and it was free. They have small room for littler kids to sit in and play and color; this is a thoughtful addition to the tour.
Note that if you suffer from claustrophobia or are prone to panic attacks as I am on both counts, taking this mine tour is inadvisable. Here is my older son, making his way down:
The grasshoppers were out in full singing force on the trail in the summer. Check this closeup I got:
There are tons of easy trails to take, but because we spent a lot of time in the salt mine first, we went on a shorter walk up to the Rose Hill Cemetery.
There were all kinds of interesting characters hanging out in there. Here is an inappropriately-dressed goth couple. As the walk up to the cemetery is not insignificant, this outfit was inadequate, but perfect for hanging out in cemeteries.
Here is the cemetery. Maybe it’s creepier at night. I’m 100% certain it is. In fact, you couldn’t pay me enough to hang out there at night. Nope.
But the cemetery is a super cool historic site. Here’s the road walking up to it. My boys were deep into a serious Star Wars discussion involving the merits of various Geonosian warriors.
Animals
- We were incredibly fortunate to see a coyote, but alas, I did not get my camera out in time. I am very dismayed by this. He was running across the small valley between the main path and the cemetery.
- Spiders
- Various butterflies
- Tons and tons of grasshoppers
More Information
- East Bay Regional Parks page on Black Diamond Mines
- Trail map (PDF)
- Hazel Atlas mine brochure (PDF)
- Hauntedhouses.com page on the Rose Hill Cemetery, which explains the goth visitors
- Wikipedia page on Star Wars Geonosians
How to Get There
- Take highway 4 east and exit
- Take the Somersville Road exit in Antioch
- Drive south on Somersville Road (into the hills) to the parking lot at the end of the road
- There is a parking fee
