Late post for this hike … this was just a couple days before snow fell on Mission Peak and a number of other Bay Area peaks. Had a day off for President's Day and decided to summit Mission Peak from Ed Levin Park in the south. We were blessed with nice, though a little chilly weather at the start, but we quickly warmed up leaving Sandy Wool Lake and heading up Tularcitos Trail onto the Agua Caliente Trail. It was a steady climb from the start as we rapidly gained altitude from 400 feet to over 2000 feet over the first four miles. We then took the Monument Peak trail, which ran along the large towers next to Monument Peak (2,594). The next part in the saddle between Monument Peak and Mount Allison (2,602) was a nice high meadow which reminded me of some of the trail on the east side of the Tahoe Rim Trail north of Marlette Lake. Great views north to Rose Peak, and glimpses of San Francisco straight ahead in the distance. We passed by Mount Allison, where we saw a lone coyote, as we headed up the rocky trail to Mission Peak. It was crowded at the summit, where we could look down at the steady stream of hikers coming up from both Stanford Ave and Ohlone. We saw only a few handfuls of people on the trail from Ed Levin, which was much preferred to the crowds coming from Mission Peak. (My other preferred access is coming from Sunol Regional Wilderness along the Ohlone Trail, but access is limited due to road damage right now). After returning to Monument Peak from Mission Peak, we turned down the Bay Area Ridge Trail, which steadily headed down through cattle grazing area, and then to the Calera Creek Trail which returned us to our starting point at Sandy Wool Lake.

So, we missed the opportunity to run in the snow by just a couple of days, but overall was an outstanding trek.

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