Which mountains would you choose?

[tim]

On my birthday last week I decided to set myself a challenge to make sure I get out in the mountains more over the next year: I'd try and climb a 1000ft-2000ft peak, a 2000ft-3000ft peak, etc. all the way up to a 14000ft+ peak before my next birthday.

I'm not looking for anything really hard, but a pleasant climb (up to say 4K feet and ~14 miles round trip for a day hike) with a view would be nice. Also ideally as many as possible would be a day trip from the Bay Area (and if possible a fair number of them doable in the fall/winter/spring). I'm not interested in trivial peaks for the sake of ticking a box - I thought the minimum ought to be 1000ft+ of climbing and ~5 miles round trip from the car. There are quite a few obvious possibilities(Mt Diablo, Half Dome, Clouds Rest, Sonora Peak, Mt Dana, Whitney), but some not so obvious at least to me (e.g. a 6000-7000ft peak? a 12000ft-13000ft peak?).

Which mountains would you suggest?

[Strider]

Two of my favorites on the Central Coast:

Cerro Alto (Morro Bay)
http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.as ... XDH004-015

Cone Peak (Big Sur)
http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock ... -peak.html

[copeg]

I'll second Cone Peak...one of my favorites in the Big Sur area. Also look into South Chalone Peak in Pinnacles (there are others in the Pinnacles, but I believe many are pretty technical - so if that's what you are looking for definitely get a hold of the map of the park). Some others: Chalk Mountain, Mission Peak (crowded). Of course these are not the High Sierra, but they are doable in winter and while some might consider them trivial, they are nice close to home peaks that can pack a punch. Don't neglect the Tahoe area (Mt. Tallac, Roundtop, RedLake Peak, Waterhouse), or Lassen and Shasta, but winter and spring ascents can be technical and difficult.

[paul]

A few ideas - a nice hike that seems less well known is Snow Mountain
http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/mendocino/recre ... ld/snowmt/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For the fall, as long as there's no significant snow on the ground yet, Black buttes in the Grouse Lakes Motor Vehicle Control Area just north of I-80 has a nice view - requires a little scrambling to get to the top. In the same area, but a longer hike plus some bushwhacking, is English Mountain; also, easier and shorter walk than either, Fall Creek Mountain.
Also a few others some more, some less obvious, that have great views - these would be for next summer I guess - Koip Peak, Pyramid peak (the one in Desolation), Leavitt Peak, Granite Dome & Big Sam (Emigrant wilderness); Four Gables, Mt. Tallac, Dicks Peak, Sierra Buttes
Peaks I haven't been up but would like to : Kaiser peak, Mt. Givens, Mt Hoffman.

Also take a look at http://climber.org/data/SierraPeaks/map.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for more ideas.