
[Mission peak](http://www.ebparks.org/parks/mission) is one of the popular hiking location near Fremont. Every week, numerous people from in and around bay area, hike this peak. And, I get to do it this Sunday.

![Mission Peak Trail head](https://i.imgur.com/WDLgp00.jpg)

You can reach the peak either from [Ohlone college trail head](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mission+Peak+Ohlone+Trail/@37.527287,-121.9128917,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x808fc6a2fbff6735:0x690d0d4a1536e625!8m2!3d37.5272828!4d-121.910703) or from [Stanford Ave trail head](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mission+Peak+Trail+Head/@37.5043281,-121.9105877,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x808fc67dccda1b0d:0x7231f5f4d748bf62!8m2!3d37.5043239!4d-121.908399). It is recommended to do start the hike from **Ohlone college**, as this location offers plenty of parking, but for a fee though.

![Ohlone college parking lot](https://i.imgur.com/HRV0NQg.jpg)

I parked my car in the multi-story parking structure you see above. It costs **4$** for a full day permit. I started my hike from the Ohlone college trail head at around 6.30 AM. I wanted to start a bit earlier to reach a good vantage point for the sunrise. But, being this my first hike at this location, I didn't know if the path will be lit and good enough to hike in the dark. So I started a bit late and missed most of the sunrise light.

[![Mission peak hiking path from Ohlone college](https://i.imgur.com/gq2gCo6.jpg)](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Mission+Peak+Ohlone+Trail,+Ysc+Trail,+Fremont,+CA/Mission+Peak+Summit,+Mission+Peak,+Fremont,+CA+94539/@37.5206415,-121.9044796,3569m/am=t/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m24!4m23!1m15!1m1!1s0x808fc6a2fbff6735:0x690d0d4a1536e625!2m2!1d-121.910703!2d37.5272828!3m4!1m2!1d-121.9046482!2d37.5247219!3s0x808fc6a1fcd1369d:0x2cde43427481005a!3m4!1m2!1d-121.8901121!2d37.5180772!3s0x808fc431ef8aaa1f:0xb4b47295c9dcb54d!1m5!1m1!1s0x808fc5ca58b42b7b:0x91d8b97650f75f66!2m2!1d-121.8808302!2d37.5125051!3e2)

The trail is very challenging and you will see it the moment you get past the first gate. If you are hiking in the middle of a sunny day, make sure you bring enough water to drink. Even if you hike before the sun started scorching, it is better to bring enough water because you WILL need it. The trail didn't have many switchbacks but it is steep. But fortunately, the Ohlone college trail provides some shades compared to the Stanford Ave trail. And, people use this trail a lot just because of this.

![Switchback in mission peak hiking train](https://i.imgur.com/cL6FVlS.jpg)

Once you get past the second gate, you will start ascending on the mountain and you get to see awesome views of the bay area. Make sure to be there during the golden hours to get a glimpse of the bay area basking in the morning sun rays.

![Onlooking bay area from mission peak trail](https://i.imgur.com/JGEryGj.jpg)

As you continue to hike, you will be presented with awesome views of greeny mountains. In some places you can see the cattle hiked up to top of the mountais and grazing. And you will see yourself, panting left and right just for half of an hour of walk in the taril and you will feel ashamed. You will learn to get past this!! :)

![Ranch on the way to mission peak](https://i.imgur.com/zDPXuZo.jpg)

![Greeny mountains](https://i.imgur.com/yIC4rIS.jpg)

It may take upto 4 to 5 hours for an average hiker to complete the entire hike. But at the end, you will feel the mission accomplished or peaked or whatever! :)


Hiking Mission Peak


For a long weekend, one usually plans to visit national parks or other famous attractions. But the intelligent one knows to avoid such places, because he knew that he won't get parking. So, I knew better to avoid Yosemite park for this memorial day long weekend.

Instead, I went on a drive through [**CA 130**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_130), a state highway that runs between San Jose and Mount Hamilton.

[![CA-130 Trip](http://i.imgur.com/K9IS0eP.png)](https://veerasundar.com/route-planner/)

I started my journey from my home at Fremont and instead of 680, I drove via Sunol, Calaveras road. I started early in the morning hoping for some sunrise photos, but unfortunately I couldn't find a better spot at Calaveras road.

However I continued my drive up the Quimby road to get to CA 130. I did not expect Quimby road to be challenging, but to my surprise, the road was winding and narrow. I almost lost my control in one of the hairpin curve. From that point, I started driving very slowly even in the straighter part of the road.

After reaching CA 130, the road became little wider, but still it was only two lane. Even though the road was winding, the curves were easily drivable. I took couple of breaks here and there while taking photos.

[![Mt Hamilton Road](http://i.imgur.com/NOaCrrG.jpg)](http://i.imgur.com/NOaCrrG.jpg)

## Lick Observatory

As I started very early, when I reached the [Lick Observatory at Mount Hamilton](https://mthamilton.ucolick.org/), I was the only peron there. So I had the whole parking lot to park my car. :)

[![Lick Observatory Parking](http://i.imgur.com/l4YKY5m.jpg)](http://i.imgur.com/l4YKY5m.jpg)

The observatory was not open at 8 in the morning though. I wasn't disappointed either, as visiting the observatory wasn't my plan. But even from the outside, one could get a good a view of the Santa Clara valley and the road leading to the Mount Hamilton.

[![View from Lick Observatory](http://i.imgur.com/bu1osDX.jpg)](http://i.imgur.com/bu1osDX.jpg)

By the time I started from the observatory, there was only two other people came there, one in motor bike and the other person in a bike. So, it's good to have a early start, to enjoy the nature without the crowd.

From the observatory, I continued to drive through CA 130. I saw some signboard warnings that there are no gas station or auto services for next 40 miles. My car had around half tank of gasoline, so I didn't worry much.

## Del Puerto Canyon Road

From Mount Hamilton, CA 130 goes through a remote and lightly populated forest. I could hardy see any signs of civilization (except the road that I was driving on). From time to time, I see some ranches and cattle, but zero humans until I reached the point where CA 130 meets the Mines road. At the road junction, there was a shop. My assumption is that the shop is the only social place that the locale use.

From that junction, I turned to the **Del Puerto Canyon Road** which goes to Patterson. The canyon road is again a isolated area, with very few humans in sight. However, the scenery was beautiful and breathtaking. I managed to find a spot to pull over my car and took couple of photos. Here's the best one from the lot.

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      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/155941195/m%3D900/78573f1e993789e6fb2bed63adedcba7"
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After reaching Patterson, I stopped for a coffee break at Starbucks and headed my way back to home (via I5 and 101). The whole drive tough only around 6 hours. I will be going back soon on the same route, especially to the Del Puerto Canyon, to take some of the photos that I missed.


A travelogue about the driving from Fremont to Patterson via Mount Hamilton.

Driving through CA-130


It's my first trip to United States (or to any foreign country for that matter) and I was kinda excited to be here. Having spent the first three weekends in my hotel room and haven't got a chance to take out my Nikon, I was eagerly waiting for an outing.

So, we planned a trip to San Francisco, which is close to San Jose and can be reachable by public commute. Including myself, there were five guys in the group. Our main aim was to go to Golden gate bridge (and of course, to take lots and lots of photos!).

On a sunny Saturday morning, as decided to start at 7:30, we started at 9. I didn't have any jacket with me and I was getting severe warnings from folks who had already visited SFO that I'm going to freeze to an ice. At first I didn't believe any of those warnings (typical software engineer who ignores all the warnings!) mainly because the sun was out and shining like a'¦ sun (duh!) in San Jose and I hoped even SFO would be having same climate.

We went to the Karina rail station and boarded the Mountain View train. From there our plan was to catch the Cal train to SFO. It took almost an hour to reach Mountain view and we had around 20 minutes of waiting time before the Cal train comes. It was 10 in the morning but still it felt like the mid day. Who cares to wear jacket in this heat?

![mountain view][1]
Mountain view station

At 10.20, the Cal train reached mountain view. We got into it and went to the upper deck of it. Train wasn't crowded at all. All this time, I was just wondering again and again at how well the public commute system works well. There was automated ticket vending machines, clean platforms, trains reaching the station at correct time, patient driver who waits till the last passenger get in/out of the train, prompt station name announcements and the list goes on..

[1]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/mountain-view.jpg "mountain-view"

While you were reading the above paragraph, our Cal train reached San Francisco. When we stepped out of the Cal train in SFO, it was 11:30 am. We walked out of the train station and directly opposite to the station there were several buses waiting. We got into one after making sure that the bus goes to Pier 39.

Unfortunately, the bus we took was not taking the direct route to Pier 39. It was going around almost all the places in SFO and we got a cheap city tour for 2 bucks. On the way, we saw a group of old men, riding the bicycles in the middle of the road - naked! And, I said to myself 'WELCOME to AMERICA!'.

After an hour or so, we finally reached our spot - Pier 39. It's the host of several tourist attractions, including an aquarium, ferry ride, wax museum and sea food hotels.

![pier 39][2]
Entering Pier 39

After reaching Pier 39, I was slightly started to feel the chill, but still I was hopeful that I wouldn't need a jacket. We decided to go in a ferry that takes us below the Golden gate bridge and around the Alcatraz island (remember [The Rock][3]) for $25. We bought the tickets and had to wait for thirty minutes before the ferry starts. And my Nikon didn't fail to capture the surroundings in the mean time.

[2]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/pier39-entrance.jpg "pier39-entrance"
[3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rock_(film) "The Rock"

![][4]
boats at Pier 39

And then started the ferry ride. The moment we left the shore, the climate immediately turned from mild cold to 'Ëœdamn, it's cold!'. For the first time, I felt I should have carried a jacket.

[4]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/boats-pier39.jpg "boats-pier39"

Anyway, the ferry ride was so awesome. When we reached the bottom of Golden Gate bridge, everyone on the ferry were shivering like a dunkards but never missed to photograph the gigantic structure in front of them.

[![][6]][6]
Golden gate surrounded by the fog

In the ferry they were narrating the history of San Francisco and the mystery of the Alcatraz prison. I hardly get to listen to that, thanks to the fog and the noise out there. Anyway, we returned back to shore after an hour of ferry ride.

[]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/golden-gate.jpg

![][6]
Foggie skylines of San Francisco

Our next plan was to take the city tour in a double decker bus. This tour would take us around the streets of San Francisco till the Golden Gate bridge and will return to Pier 39.

[6]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/fogfie-skyline.jpg "Foggie skylines of San Francisco"

Taking a bus ride in San Francisco is exciting mainly because of roads of SFO. Wanna know why? Just look below and you'll understand.

![][7]
roads in San Francisco

Finally we reached the Golden gate bridge (again) and accomplished our mission by posing for a group photo (thanks to the foreigner who took this one!)

[7]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/bumby-roads.jpg "bumby-roads"

![][8]
Mission accomplished

[8]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/group-gate.jpg "group-gate"


#photo (3)