This was my third time hiking Mission Peak. The first time I started late on a very hot day with bad blisters and couldn’t finish, and the second time I finished, but the trail elevation killed me and I ended up slipping and falling and skinning my hand pretty badly.

I was nervous about this trip. I had heard that starting from Ohlone College instead of the Stanford staging area would be better since the trail is longer for roughly the same amount of elevation gain, but I hate uphill in general and the thought of falling again was in the back of my head. My boyfriend and I had talked about starting early so it wouldn’t be as hot but that didn’t happen. We got there around 11:30 AM and it was pretty warm. There were a lot of people.

Starting this trail is an elevation gain of about 900 feet over the first mile, which was reminiscent of the other trail. I found myself having to stop and drink water. I was also very aware of the people behind me and kept letting them pass me. I was in no hurry. Once we got past the first mile this trail surprisingly evened out and everything became much more pleasant.

Overall this trail was beautiful. The grass was finally green, the cows were fluffy and their babies were eating the grass, and the sky was clear so you could see the amazing skylines as you got higher. The path was the right level of steep for a 9 mile hike. We felt like we got a good workout in but we weren’t dying. This would definitely be my preferred trail for hiking Mission Peak again.

The top of Mission Peak had a ton of people. So much so that there was a line for people to take their photos with the sign. I didn’t feel like waiting and wanted to social distance so I didn’t take a photo next to the marker.

People need to remember that when you’re hiking you need to leave no trace. We passed by a woman sitting on a bench next to the bathroom and she dropped her plastic water bottle and it rolled away from her across the path. She made no attempt to pick it up. My boyfriend passed her and I nodded at the water bottle – he went to pick it up and gave it to her. She cringed while he retrieved it and said thank you. We’re all lucky to be able to hike in such beautiful locations – let’s take care of them so we can continue to enjoy them.