Mission Peak- A mission accomplished

It was on my radar, or a bucket list as most would call it, to go on a hike. And it finally did come true on Oct 1, 2011. A hike to the summit of Mission Peak, Fremont, CA.

View of the Western side from the top of Mission Peak

When I was talking to my cousin a few months ago, I remember him mentioning that he went on a 10 mile hike with his colleagues to this place. And I distinctly remember him mentioning how beautiful the place was. Since then I always had in the back of my head that, if I came to CA, I would do this.
I came. And I did this. The feeling of an accomplishment. May be small, but worth it for me.  ;-)

Two of us, my colleague and roommate, TK, and I, started for Fremont at 0730 hrs, right on time as planned for 0630 hrs ( 1 hour is still within acceptable 'on time IST limits', right? ;)). After some misdirection by the GPS aunty, we reached the start of the hike trail at Stanford Avenue after about 40 minutes of driving.

I was all pumped up and enthusiastic, and why not? It was my first hike after all! We started off to hike at around 0830 hrs(I am deliberately following the military style timing ;-)). The initial few minutes did sap the energy off us. I don't know if this can in any way be related to IT or not. But then,things got normalized and we were at a steady pace up the mountain, moving towards the summit.

Our target standing in front of us

 With many other hikers(especially the beautiful ones of the opposite gender ;)) and cyclists giving company, the uphill hike started getting rewarding. With every foot elevation gained, the view of the valley was getting much beautiful and I was yearning to get the summit view with each step. However, I was not able to take much pictures on the way up the hill as it was way too dusty and difficult to take the camera on and off my backpack. After about an hour an fifteen minutes of hike uphill with a couple of short breather breaks, the summit was conquered. Whew! Mission Peak checked off my radar :).

It was windy and cool up there. At an elevation of 2517 feet, the peak gives a brilliant view of the city below. On one side it was the concrete patches and on the other, hills and valley surrounding the area. How I wished there were more clouds. It would have been a surreal sight I believe. So, I have planned for a sunrise view from the peak during the coming months ;).


Some pics below. Apologize for the bad quality of pics. This trip helped me realize what I had to have if I were to get good pics on a hike. And I promise to try and give better write-ups, and of course, better pics next time on. :)

TK Walking up the Trail

What better to do than meditate at the summit

North side view from the Peak

Hikers at the summit point. Hawks were higher though ;)

Mission Peak, 2517 FT

Pointing towards the summit- TK

Yours Truly ;-). yes, could have helped with a smile, but... :P