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Ascent of Mission Peak on 2011-12-05

Climber: Jason Reed

Other People:

Solo Ascent

Date:

Monday, December 5, 2011

Ascent Type:

Successful Summit Attained

Motorized Transport to Trailhead:

Car

Peak:

Mission Peak

Location:

USA-California

Elevation:

2517 ft / 767 m

Ascent Trip Report

I took the day off of work after running Cal International Marathon yesterday. I intended on starting from Ohlone College but saw a sign for a park to the right while heading north on Mission Blvd. I turned right and followed it to the end. There is a parking lot, restroom, large trail map, and a bunch of free trail maps available for the taking.

I saw a guy in the parking lot on a bicycle who sounded informative while he was talking to a 20-something girl in her car waiting for her friends. Eventually I realized the guy seemed creepy so I asked my quick questions of which peak is the top from here and is it as accessible as the trail from Ohlone. Then I exited the conversation as quickly as I could.

I took the Wilderness Trail up to the Peak Mission Trail and didn't see the actual intersection so ended up taking a left (north) turn on Peak Meadow, which was my intetion anyway. On this trail I ran into about 7 cows who were grazing, some on the edge of the trail. I avoid them and they seemed not to care that I was there (although I didn't ask). Then I turned left on the Grove Trail which led to a triangle intersection where I stayed to the right. Then I turned right almost immediately after the intersection onto a Trail named Peak Trail. There are 2 parts to this trail - one to the north and one to the south. I was on the (southern) Peak Trail was a little rocky but runnable in most spots. I would have run into the Northern Peak Trail if I hadn't turned on the Southern one arfter the triangle. The Northern looked less rocky (boring) and they converged after a short distance.

Just after they converged is some additional ascent to the summit. There is a pole at the western summit with a bunch of tubes screwed into it where if you look into them you can see distinct points. The tubes were numbered but I saw no sign with a list of names matching the numbers. The only recognizable one I could use was to Mt. Diablo to the Northeast, which is a county high point I've run up a bunch of times. Some of the other tubes I wasn't even sure from which side to look through the tube.

I proceeded to the east where about 60 feet away there was another summit. This looked a little higher so I went up there as well. The Western summit looked only a couple feet shorter than the eastern and the key col between them was probably only a few feet lower than the western summit.

A couple hikers then made it up and took a couple pictures for me and then I descended. Going up I walked most but ran a bit and going down I ran nearly all of it. The sun was partially hidden by the Santa Cruz mountains when I finished. I had packed a headlamp but didn't bring it (or need it) once i saw how easy the trail was - I knew I could run back from any point in a short time.

Summary Total Data

Route:

Ohlone Wilderness, Peak Meadow, Grove, Peak Trs.

Trailhead:

NE end of Stanford Ave, Fremont.

Quality:

6 (on a subjective 1-10 scale)

Route Conditions:

Maintained Trail

Weather:

Cool, Breezy, Clear

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