I started about 11am knowing there was a slight possibility of rain.  How much or how hard was unknown. The sun was shining when I started but about a mile into my hike, it began slightly raining.  The temp dropped down to 40 degrees and I was hurting.  The trek up wasn't so bad in regards to the terrain (mud) and I forgot what it could be like on the trek down.  But by the time I about a mile from the top, I've always thought mile 1-2 was the most difficult, my quads were numb, wet, cold and exhausted. A big part of me wanted to turn around, but knowing I could knock this peak out of my challenge was only one of the reasons I didn't quit. This day 6 years ago, I buried my mom.  She was the reason why I didn't quit, because she never did.

When I finally made it to the top, there were only 2 people up there.  I took a photo of them and they took a photo of me.  I enjoyed the vicotry before I began to make my way down.  And as I did, there were little tiny “snow flurries” falling on the ground.  I wished I had made the trek the weekend before, because I knew there was snow at the peak, but I was totally okay with NO snow.

The walk down was pretty difficult because several sections of the ground were no very muddy.  I tried my best to keep as far to the right of the trail where the dirt was more packed, but there were areas I had to walk slow, sideways and stop because it was so muddy.  It took me far too long to get down and my toes were hurting.  But eventually, I made it to the end.  Overall, it was a brutal hike, but YES, I would do it again.  In total, with selfies and Peak photos it took me 3:30 hours.  If you can do this hike, I would highly recommend it.  And from the Stanford Ave Staging Area is always nice, but busy vs the Ohlone College side.