Backpacking:

	Ohlone Wilderness Trail
	South Desolation Wilderness
	Bull Run Lake

Trip Reports:

	Pinnacles 03/04
	Death Valley 10/03
	Reno 07/03
	Fourth of July 2003
	Memorial Day 2003
	Carson-Iceberg 11/02
	Yosemite 10/02
	Mt. Whitney 08/02
	Carson-Iceberg 07/02

Other Links:

	Birds
	Wildflowers
	Gear
	External Hiking Links

Sunday, 11 May:
I woke up at 5:45 to answer nature's call, then, deciding it was still much too early, went back to sleep until 7, when I woke up for good. It was much warmer this morning, 58°F, and there was virtually no condensation on our gear, which was nice. Our campsite warmed up quickly as the sun peeked above the hills to our east as we made coffee and had breakfast (again, oatmeal for Sarah, a bagel and cream cheese for me). I made several much-needed adjustments to my pack to get the hip belt to ride over my hips rather than below them. I wished I had done this yesterday! We broke camp pretty quickly and hit the trail at 9:50. It was a steep descent from our camp to the edge of the backpacking area. This was the one area that was not well marked at all - unless one knew exactly where one's site was (or just lucked out, as we did), a long'ish hike would be required to find most of the sites, especially coming from the east as we were. We passed spur trails to several other campsites that we didn't know existed. It'd have been nice to explore these other camps, but we didn't really want to drop our packs so soon after putting them on, so we continued on our way.

The trail climbed gradually to Cerro Este Rd, which we'd been on on another hike, then we descended to the McCorkle Trail and had a 2 mile gradual descent to the park headquarters. There were more flowers here -- lupine, , blue nightshade, and Ithuriel's spears. As we neared the parking lot, the people density increased accordingly, but it continued to be a lovely hike along green hills. We stopped at the park HQ for a little while to relax, use the facilities, eat, and top off our water. We polished off our gummy bears and beef jerkey and ate more of what we could, more to remove weight from our packs than because we were hungry (although we were a bit peckish). From the park HQ, we signed in at another panel, climbed a lovely singletrack through a wildflower-strewn field, crossed Calaveras Road, then entered SF Water District lands.

Although I've climbed Mission Peak numerous times from the Stanford and Ohlone College trailheads, this was my first time from the east. The trail clibmed steadily, but gently through a pretty forest with occasional views east of the main features of the Sunol Wilderness, Flag Hill and Maguire Peaks. This was the mellowest climb of our journey so far as we passed a ruined wall of an old homestead and continued ascending towards the base of Mission Peak. A huge oak tree beckoned us to stop for a while, so we did. We weren't really hungry enough for lunch, but we rested and snacked and enjoyed the lovely spring day. Since our trail thus far was on a well-graded fireroad, I decided to change into my Tevas and give my feet a respite from hiking boots, them having served me well on my Mt. Whitney dayhike last year.

We continued climbing gradually until we left the SF Water District lands - apparently they employ much kinder trail-makers than does the EBRPD. No sooner had we signed in at the panel at the east end of the Mission Peak preserve than the trail turned steeply upwards. There were many cows here, and they were much more accustomed to humans than the ones we ran into near Murietta Falls. My heart rate monitor died again as we climbed - argh! We reached the intersection with the Eagle trail, dropped our packs, and headed to the summit via the southern trail, a bit longer than the north trail, but much less steep. Before long, we were atop Mission Peak. Although I've been here a dozen-plus times, I saw the hills to the east with new eyes, having just hiked over them. Sarah nearly stepped on a small snake near the top, so we watched it for a few, had someone take our pictures, then walked back down to our packs. I called Ross on the way down to give him a heads-up that we were nearly done. I changed back into my hiking boots, wanting something more substantial than Tevas for going down the sometimes-slippery west side of the mountain.

After a brief ascent, we began the descent of Mission Peak. This was, as I expected, really hard on the knees and most of the rest of my body. I saw some thoughtless hikers disregard the signs asking people to stay on the trail to prevent erosion and unsightly shortcut trails, and another group of hikers laughed as their dog chased a cow, probably unaware that that's very illegal, and in a great many places, would result in their dog being shot. We were definitely getting back to civilization for better or for worse. The descent continued to be knee-jarring, but we were getting very close to the end now, so I blocked that out. Sarah was by now more than ready to be finished, and more or less stopped talking, concentrating on keeping her footing on the slippery trail. A few turns from the finish I called Ross so he could come and get us; we soon got to the parking lot at 6:20 - we were done! We hurriedly dropped our packs and changed into our Tevas, just in time for Ross to pull up. Again we really appreciated him giving us a lift! When Sarah and I got home, we ordered, then entirely devoured, a large pizza, looked at pictures for a few, then crashed out hard.

This was a super-fun trip, although perhaps a little tough for my first backpacking trip in over two decades. My gear worked out very well, and I very much look forward to my next backpacking trip.

Previous Day

Trip Home

• Day 1 - Del Valle to Stewart's Camp
• Day 2 - Stewart's Camp to Eagle's Aerie (Sunol Backpacking Camp)
• Day 3 - Eagle's Aerie to Mission Peak

Other links:

• Offical Ohlone wilderness website
• Offical Mission Peak regional park website
• Bay Area Hiker's Mission Peak page
• Alison's excellent Mission Peak page
• Kevin Gong's report for his trip in the Ohlone Wilderness
• Felix Wong's report for his out-and-back trip from Sunol to Murietta Falls and back