Mission Peak – January 2024

Feedback from yesterday’s Mission Peak “Double” hike: epic and brutal, brutal, I can’t feel my legs, good thing that another hiker’s dog was able to pull me up the mountain, great hike but you need to enjoy the process; meanwhile, for these two, scroll all the way down, it’s business as usual.

Suffice it to say that the Mission Peak “Double” is not for everyone. Let’s call it, charitably, an acquired taste, a (4-part) process, a metaphor perhaps for quite a few challenging and complex tasks possibly in front of you. 

3,740 feet elevation gain, 11.7 miles, nearly 30,000 steps. 

14 hikers, and 1 intrepid dog, capable, as noted above, of pulling a fellow hiker up the mountain; drinking from a hillside stream with water of questionable purity; and bounding down a muddy trail with utter ease. 

Our Mission Peak hike consists of four (4) parts: (a) Ohlone College Parking Lot K to the actual Mission Peak, via Peak Trail and Eagle Trail; (b) along the ridge (Peak Trail) before descending (via Peak Trail, Horse Heaven Trail, and Peak Meadow Trail) to the Stanford Avenue Parking Lot: (c) a relentless ascent up Hidden Valley Trail to the junction of Peak Trail and Eagle Trail; and (d) back down Peak Trail to Parking Lot K. The first part was quite pleasant; cool, quiet, not overly muddy. Part of our crew peeled back after the photo opp at the Peak. In retrospect, this was probably quite wise. The ridge was perfect. Sunny, almost warm, with the snow of the Sierra Nevadas to the east and the coastal mountains to the west. The descent is steep, and as it had rained the previous day, muddy. Hiking sticks helped. Hidden Valley Trail is always a beast. 40% grade. I might be exaggerating, but probably not that much. When the Peninsula Hiking Club first hiked Mission Peak in 2022, this was the straw that almost broke the camel’s back. Two years later, I’d like to say that it was a little easier for me. For newbies (to ascending Hidden Valley Trail), this can be a shock to the system. An ice bath, which was actually the post-hike remedy of one of our hikers. The fourth part, the downhill hike back to the Ohlone College Parking Lot, was relatively easy, thankfully, as ultimately we were welcomed by flat ground, and cold beverages, pilsners and lagers from Barebottle Brewery. For our post-hike lunch, we visited La Cumbre (the Peak, of course) in San Mateo, home to the original Mission Style burrito. Mission accomplished, literally and figuratively.

Here’s the map: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/mission-peak-from-ohlone-via-stanford

Now, let’s talk about the process. Pre-hike coffee and stretch. Introductions at the trailhead. Each crew is different. On this hike, I was accompanied by two business school classmates, one whom I had not seen since 2010. Only three lawyers, in contrast to six on the last one. The Hidden Valley Trail ascent reminds me of a comment from my real property law professor, during the first year of law school, almost 27 years ago. There, the professor compared the rule against perpetuities to wrestling a shit-covered bear. Climbing Hidden Valley Trail is just that. Are we close to the top? Yes. You said that at the last switchback. 

While hiking Mission Peak, it’s impossible not to overhear “semiconductor talk.” Hey, we’re in Silicon Valley. Did you expect anything different? For completeness, AI, IP, and privacy law topics were also discussed, as was the Fiero Book Club, and our second-to-last book, the Sovereign of Good, which requires as much mental stamina as the Hidden Valley Trail requires physical stamina. Lastly, in terms of observations, hiking can be an intensely personal process. Everyone hikes at a different pace, and dispersion and trail difficulty are, of course, positively correlated. At the end, everyone made it, albeit, and as expected, at a different pace and time. Post-hike stretch. Ice bath for some. Light exercise the following day. Then, start planning the next one. It’s a process. Embrace it.

This was our third time hiking Mission Peak. As noted above, in 2022 we hiked the same hike. Last year, we hiked to the Peak, where snow had accumulated, then down, due to the inclement (and frigid) conditions. I am pleased that at least one hiker (besides me) from our 2022 Mission Peak crew joined us yesterday. I am curious how many will join us again in January 2025, when we tackle the Mission Peak “Double” again.

Comments welcomed.