Steven's Peak-bagging Journey

August 2, 2026

310m

Orcas Island, WA

Diamond Hill is the last objective of the grand “P100m slam” on Orcas Island and like most of the other pimples, this one also has private property issues. I honestly didn’t put in too much thoughts as I knew both Alan Blair and Raphael Smith had done it, so it most likely would be straightforward. My assumption was not very correct. I did absolutely no research (nor would I have the time anyway) besides knowing that they had approached from the south. Sure enough, the unpaved spur road was private. It looked like someone’s driveway so perhaps the safest way was to park at/near the entrance and walk my way upwards, but at this time of the day I was already tired and wanted to minimize hiking distance. I plainly ignored the “private property” signs, drove up and parked at the obvious pull-out which was everyone else’s starting point. This was a few hundred meters away from the houses so I hoped it would be “okay”. Clair and Cheesecake would wait for me in the vehicle since they weren’t too keen on trespassing.

I had the feeling that this entire hill would eventually be used for residential purposes but for now, the upper slopes were bushy and undeveloped. The road led briefly up from where I parked but it wasn’t going the direction I wanted, so I bailed into the bushes roughly following Raphael’s GPX track. The bushwhacking was notable but not wet (thankfully). I had to traverse climber’s left to get myself out of the worst of the bushes but there were lots of thorny plants. Higher up the situation improved and I even picked up an old road even though I had no idea where it originated from. To get to the true summit required leaving the road and doing more thrashing. The true summit itself offered no view but I descended a short ways to the east to the edge of some bluffs and found glimpses of views.

The cell coverage was sporadic but I did get a text message from Clair, that there was some problems. I could not load the entire conversation (actually a series of messages) but I sensed that the landowner had discovered our vehicle. I was definitely correct. I hastily retraced mostly trying to stay on my own GPX track. I somehow found a path on the lower half of the flanks that avoided the worst of the bushwhacking, but that path was definitely leading towards the houses. Knowing that the landowner was likely there I bailed back into the bushes avoiding direct sight with the property, and rejoined my own route at the very end. My speculation was correct, but Clair was smart enough to “play dumb” in broken English by indicating that we were foreign tourists and were “lost”. Well, I think part of the argument was actually correct as Clair surely had little clue where we actually were. In any case the landowner had decided to leave us alone so we’d better drive off immediately before he came back to give us a more serious lecture.

With all of the objectives down I then drove us to the ferry terminal. There’s no point in camping for another night so despite the lateness we decided to catch the last ferry home. The food situation was not so great as all of the restaurants near the terminal was closed except for a grocery store. I was fine with the grocery store “dinner” but Clair stated that this was the worst she had ever had. I would actually agree since she was not a dirtbag like myself. Even I thought the dinner was awful for the prices. We eventually got back to UBC at 1:30 am and Clair was amazed by my ability to stay awake at such hour.