Mission Peak is always very crowded with early morning hikers; therefore, we arrived in the mid-morning to avoid the large crowd. We could see many hikers returning when we arrived at the parking lot, and we were able to find a good parking spot.

The Hidden Valley Trail was completely exposed with only some small patches of shade under the trees. It's definitely not for hiking in the summer! Even though it's very sunny today, the weather wasn't too hot. The hills were green with several large patches of yellow mustard flowers. We could see the magnificent bay view shortly after the ascent. There were many hikers coming in both directions, including some families with young kids.

The upper part of the trail wasn't as steep and was more enjoyable until we reached the last half mile of the Peak Trail leading to the Mission Peak. This last section was rocky and very steep. We reached the peak around noon and had to wait in line to take photos. Today is the Memorial Day, and someone tied an American flag on the summit post! We had lunch at the summit. The view was splendid in all directions!

We descended from the Horse Heaven Trail. This trail was deceptively easy at the start until we encountered several sections of very steep and slippery slope! It would have been very difficult if we didn't have our hiking poles. It was a lot faster coming down, and we reached the parking lot before 2pm. Then we went to a bubble tea shop to reward ourselves.