The year 2001 is a very important one for Mt Diablo with many anniversaries and reasons to celebrate the mountain. It is 150 years since Col. Leander Ransom, General Land Office Deputy Surveyor for California established the Initial Point at the top of the mountain to start the formal mapping of land within the State and Nevada It’s eighty years since the park was founded in April 1921 and seventy years since the public were allowed access in April 1931. It is thirty years since Mary Bowerman and Art Bonwell formed save Mount Diablo. It is nine years since Mt Diablo Interpretive Association (MDIA), in cooperation with Mt Diablo State Park, raised the money to pay for major renovation and creation of the exhibits for the Summit Museum and Visitor Center and it is two years since Mt Diablo Interpretive Association opened the Mitchell Canyon Interpretive Center as the second interpretive and visitor center on the mountain.

To commemorate these anniversaries and the general good feeling towards the mountain the groups mentioned above – Mt Diablo State Park, Mt Diablo Interpretive Association, Mt Diablo Surveyors Historical Society, Save Mount Diablo – were joined by the Museum of San Ramon Valley to "Celebrate Mt Diablo 2001…" Whilst each group was organizing and running their own events, they worked together to put on the birthday party on May 5 and to show the community that while many different groups work on the mountain they can all work together to improve and expand the visitor’s experience.

About 140 people turned up for the cake cutting and (brief) speeches. Doug McConnell, host of the ever-popular KRON’s TV program "Bay Area Backroads", hosted the ceremony and a number of local politicians spoke of what the park means to them. County supervisors Donna Gerber and Mark DeSaulnier presented the park with a Supervisors Proclamation for Mt Diablo Day. Six large birthday cakes were decorated with the logos of the five sponsoring organizations and the Mt Diablo 2001 logo. There were display tables and literature from the sponsoring organizations and the California State Parks Foundation (one of MD2001’s sponsors). We were joined by one of the mountain’s original inhabitants – a Red-tailed hawk from the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time and wished Mt Diablo a very happy birthday!