I placed the $2 one-day parking pass on my dashboard then looked up from the Ohlone College parking lot at Mission Peak looming overhead. Holy cow, I thought, that thing is way up there. It crossed my mind that maybe today was a good day to rearrange my sock drawer instead.
No wonder it looked so impressive. I stood at an elevation of 400 feet looking up at a 2,517-foot summit. The trail to the top is not long – about three miles – but over that three miles I would climb over 2,000 feet. There was clearly a lot of “up” in my future.
Several years ago, I wrote about one of my favorite outdoor adventures that happened right here on the edge of Fremont. Very early on Christmas Eve morning, I lay in bed wide awake and unable to fall back to sleep. I decided to get up, head to Mission Peak, and hike to the top in time for sunrise. That decision turned an ordinary day hike into a magical adventure. In utter darkness, I climbed above a sparkling Bay Area. Once at the top, across an area that stretched from Mt. Tamalpais to Mt. Diablo to Mt. Hamilton, I watched the day begin.
Today would be a very different winter day. Instead of subfreezing wind chills at dawn, it would be bright sunshine and temperatures in the mid-70’s.
While I had no problem finding the well signed entrance to Mission Peak Regional Preserve with its nice map and kiosk, there were no signs directing me to the Peak Trail. Luckily, another hiker happened by who knew the preserve and pointed the way. We got a chuckle out of the map when we realized that the spot labeled “YOU ARE HERE” marked a different location somewhere over there.
If you prefer sweeping urban views – and based on trail traffic most people do – the Hidden Valley Trail at the end of Stanford Avenue is the way to go. The Ohlone College trailhead where I began is farther up Mission Boulevard tucked behind the first wrinkles of the Diablo Range. But a grand view is the eventual reward no matter what route a hiker takes to Mission Peak, and the landscape along the Peak Trail moves through several lovely stretches of bay and coast live oak forest absent from the Hidden Valley Trail. The Peak Trail is less traveled and looks eastward into the quiet hills instead of toward the urban hubbub rimming the bay.
At the saddle before the last push to the top, we joined the Hidden Valley Trail and the final summit stretch. For a peak with a fabulous view, I could not have picked a worse day. It was a day from among our recent succession of Spare the Air Days. No distant views. Even the peninsula hills across the bay were just a faint rumor through the brown soup.
If you are looking for solitude, don’t come to Mission Peak. You would do better at a Giant-Dodger game at AT&T Park. I spoke with the ranger who said that two thousand people had come the prior weekend. But despite the swarm of hikers, the view and other treats are there. We came amazingly close – just a few feet – to an unconcerned red-tailed hawk perched on top of the pit toilet vent. On the way down, a coyote pranced past Eric and me with a ground squirrel in his mouth.
Come to Mission Peak on a free and clear weekday, or early some morning when you just can’t fall back to sleep.
