When a trip that I was planning for months couldn’t come to life, I let myself to have that solo time to make peace with it. I looked for all available trails near San Jose area and then decided to make it to the Mission Peak.
I took the trail from Stanford avenue with 6~ miles In & out, elevation of 2200 ft. This is the most common route and honestly for me the trail wasn’t that easy, its short but steep. It was busy on Friday, there were good amount of enthusiasts hiking to the peak and few of them were with their pets 🙂
There is a parking lot and restrooms available near the trail head. The parking fills up pretty quick so I believe to get parking in weekends would be challenging.
At the trail head I was greeted by cows and calves. You may encounter them almost anywhere in the park. I was little hesitant to pass them at first but then one of the calf was kept on staring at me as if asking me to click his picture hehehe, so I clicked. 🙂 Other than cows, I spotted several squirrels and a fox too.
Handsome Calf boy
Since it rained the day before the trail was little bit muddy and in this situation I had to keep removing the mud from my boots at intervals to make sure I am not carrying extra weight all the way 😛
I was moving forward for quite a long time and then I looked back OMG the view of the city by the south bay was breath taking.
Fremont by the bay
The trail doesn’t have much shade so early morning or late afternoon should be the time to hike.
Cows grazing in the park
The final stretch of the trail is hikers only, where you have to be cautious enough to step on the rocks in wet season to avoid minor accidents due foot slippage. This is the final trail “peak trail” to reach rocky summit of the mission peak.
Mission Peaks Summit
Upon reaching the peak, my soreness of the legs faded like magic. The view from all the direction is just WOW.
An Eagle watching over the summit 🙂
At the top it was windy and because of it I was too cold. Anyhow I was hungry by this time and I had just water and ORANGES in my bag. Yess it was Orange time for my tummy.
Orange and the Hills
Finally once you decide to call it for a day then retrace your steps and head back to the trail head. The going was way easier and fast. You can definitely run if you wish to. However be aware of muddy areas.
The summit is also famous for experiencing the cloud sea in early morning. I would definitely do this hike and reach there before sunrise.
My last two cents based on my experience–
Do not keep anything valuable in clear sight in the car. While returning I found a car with broken glass window. 🙁
Keep plenty of water and quick bites to gather energy upon reaching the top while enjoying the beauty. Keep hydrated.
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the hike even though it was little difficult for me while going up but the final outcome was awesomely serene and worth the pain.
Make the Memories 🙂
Cheers!