Mt D has always stood as the most significant landmark in the East Bay, towering over all of the other Ridges of Danville around it. However, for whatever reason, it's always been under-appreciated from a caching perspective... very few cachers come up here. Our theory has long been that it has two issues -- it costs $monies for park fees when you drive up, and it's a long drive up a windy mountain road.
This cache series solves both of those problems -- introducing the Mt Diablo 80 "Free Way" to the summit. Hidden roughly along the Summit Trail of Mt D, it takes you from the foothills of Diablo, all the way up the Mt, climbing over 3000ft of vertical from bottom to top. And since it's a hike, it bypasses all of those parking fees levied by the local rangers - it's "Free". There's over 20 caches part of the MTD80, plus several dozen easily accessible along the way.
This cache is hidden on a corner of the Mt D Summit Trail - under a formally shady oak tree. As you'll see, this was right in the path of the recent fire -- but the cache somehow survived . You're almost to the top -- just a few hundred feet more!
Note: most of the caches in this series are fairly simple finds. However, the terrain rating of each changes, with the assumption that you are finding it after driving to the closest parking spot. If you are hiking up from the bottom, consider this a 5.