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Latest Hikes column: Mission Peak
Posted today at www.mercurynews.com
A few hours at Mission Peak Regional Preserve might make you wonder if the United Nations has a West Coast hiking club.
Fremont’s signature peak attracts people from everywhere. I’ve chatted with hikers from India, China, Taiwan, Russia, Mexico and even remote, exotic places like Livermore.
You don’t come to Mission Peak expecting solitude: the parking lot’s like a shopping mall on weekends. You come to meet interesting people and to stand on the summit. There’s no easy (or even moderate) route to the top - it’s nearly 2,200 feet above the trail head - but the view up there is worth every step.
Winter’s the best time to do Mission Peak because a layer of gravel keeps the main trail from turning to muck after it rains.
Tags: Mission Peak
December 21st, 2007 at 8:32 am
I haven’t been up to Mission Peak since about this time last year. Its about time I went back up again, if only to work off some of the flab from all these holiday meals. But to be sure, when I was there last year, I couldn’t help but notice the international flare of all the hikers on the hill. I’ve noticed that on the Stanford Outing Club hikes I’ve been on too. And it led me to wonder why more locals don’t bother to climb that hill. Are we all too fat and too lazy to bother? Or is it that locals haven’t explored the place because it’s in our own backyard? I’ve lived in the Bay Area since 1977 and it took me that long to climb it!