Mission Peak Hike/Climb

Last weekend Saturday and Sunday, we were walking a little funny.  That's because on Friday, we decided to drive over to Mission Peak (about 10 minutes from us) to climb the "hill."  Now, I use quotation marks around hill because to anyone from the midwest, it's hard to see why this isn't considered a mountain.  I guess there's some height requirement to be classified as a mountain, but sheesh!  I've hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park up a 13,000-something foot mountain and it was less steep than this "hike."

Okay, I just googled it and here's what I found on Wikipedia:

Definitions of "mountain" include:

• Height over base of at least 2,500 m (8,202 ft);
• Height over base of 1,500 m (4,921 ft).–2,500 m (8,202 ft). with a slope greater than 2 degrees
• Height over base of 1,000 m (3,281 ft).–1,500 m (4,921 ft). with a slope greater than 5 degrees
• Local (radius 7,000 m (22,966 ft). elevation greater than 300 m (984 ft)., or 300 m (984 ft)–1,000 m (3,281 ft). if local (radius 7,000 m (22,966 ft). elevation is greater than 300 m (984 ft).

According to the park website, Mission Peak's summit is 2,517 ft above sea level.  And let me tell you, I didn't have my protractor, but that slope was pretty steep!  According to what I found, the rise is almost 2200 feet in less than 3 miles.  Someone get your calculator out!

Okay, that's not the point.  The point is, we climbed it.  It took about 2.5 hours because I was not letting poor Steve have frequent or extended breaks (I was told to expect it to take 3 hours... I'm such a slave driver!).

It was a pretty warm day (upper 60s) and very sunny.  The path doesn't have much in the way of shade (as you'll see from the photos below).  So we drained our two water bottles!  The hike begins pretty steeply right off the bat, and what keeps you going is that you can't tell how much further you have to go, thanks to the winding switchbacks seen here.

 So we climbed and climbed, and it doesn't take long before the views start getting pretty amazing.  Unfortunately, there was a layer of haze covering the lower elevations, so you can't see all that far.

We kept climbing and took a few breaks here and there.  We were among some interesting wildlife... we saw wild turkeys, some squirrel-esque critters, predatory birds (hawks, golden eagles?) and many a cow.  Cows were all over the hills and although some were pretty docile, others did not seem to like our company and started making what I interpreted to be some warning bellows.  We kept moving except for a quick photo here and there!

Check it out -- Steve's carrying a Michigan cup!  Caught him!

Then we got to what we thought was the top.  Notice Steve's smile of relief...

But it wasn't...

We could only now finally see the actual peak!  Ugh!  But we made it after another half hour of pretty strenuous climbing.  Hooray!  And here's proof!

In the last photo, Steve is pointing out the Tesla plant that he is working in.  It's 5 million square feet and a pretty obvious landmark!  Do you see the series of little squares to the right of where Steve is pointing?  Like I said, it was pretty hazy, but you can barely see it.  Beyond that, approximately right under the clouds, is the San Francisco Bay.

And if you noticed that the hills are looking a little dry, it's because the region has gotten an unusually low amount of rain.  Normally winter is the rainy season, but not so thus far!  These are what they call the "golden" hills of California :)  We are finally getting a little bit now for the past few days.

Good thing we got our hiking done before the rain came!