Mission Peak – April 13, 2025

I had been putting off doing this hike for a couple of years since I knew it was extremely popular and I’d have little privacy on the trail. I tackled this one on a beautiful Sunday evening and had a great time. Crowded? Sure. Manageable? Absolutely. And the views in spring are absolutely worth it.

I ascended from Ohlone College (3.3 miles and 2100 ft elevation gain one way) and made it to the summit in about 1.5 hours. My original plan was to traverse over to Monument Peak for sunset, which would tack on a little over 4 more miles to my hike. I had even packed my Jetboil and a dinner. But halfway through the traverse, I realized that the views at sunset would be far superior from the summit and north side of Mission Peak and made my way back.

Mission Peak from the south.

The views from the summit were amazing. Seeing San Jose and all of the sprawling East Bay suburbs to the west was interesting, but the rolling hills to the north – Pleasanton Ridge, Sunol Wilderness, all the way out to Livermore, Morgan Territory, and even Mt. Diablo – were the real prize for me. I stuck around on the summit until around 7:15 PM before deciding to starting hiking down for a better perspective.

The lighting got better and better and even the haze from the late spring heat couldn’t put a damper on the mood. The mountain was alive with tons of hikers still making their way up for sunset and, surprisingly, some even heading up for night hikes. (Note: Mission Peak has the usual East Bay curfew of 10 PM - 5 AM and I’ve heard the rangers are more strict about enforcement here, but if you’re caught out late at least you’d be in good company…)

I mentally kicked myself for not spotting a huge patch of lupines while the lighting was still good. I had to settle for borderline blue hour lighting after the sun had already set. I also tend to get a bit camera shy around big crowds and don’t like taking my tripod out under those circumstance. All of my shots from this hike were taken handheld at 640 ISO. When pixel-peeping, the loss in quality is noticeable but otherwise I’m quite happy with how they turned out.

With the last light beginning to fade, I took out my headlamp and borderling jogged back down the trail to the Ohlone College parking lot. Already dreaming about going back to get a good shot of the lupines…

—Justin