After a real long time, I went for hiking today with Anshuman (my G S Lab colleague). We planned to go to mission peak that is visible from hotel as well as office and came highly recommended by people who hike regularly.

We started at around 4 pm and were back at 7 pm. I am not sure that we actually climbed the right peak but the one that we climbed was surely highest (atleast one of the highest) in the nearby area. I am expecting information from anshuman, he would study the map and find out the peak that we actually managed to climb. Climb should not be the word because it is more of a difficult walk than climbing.

We took the standard east end of Stanford Avenue, off Mission Blvd path to start our hike. It is popular trail and we met quite a few people who were starting alongside. There were atleast 5 or 6 hand gliders in sky and these guys were surely having a gala time. We actually saw one of them land. Initially I thought that the guy/gal is going to crash in some tree or in some building but it was a smooth glide and it surely was a treat for eyes.

The hike was relatively easy for me and climate was perfect, I don't think anyone can get tired in that environment. The view from topmost point as well as in the route was good. Fremont, Mountain View and Some part of Bay was visible from the trail, the mountains beyond bay were also visible and added to overall beauty of the scene.

We took the hidden valley trail to hike and going up the hill was much easier than coming down. I always find climbing down to be a more difficult task. The funny part was we were sweating because of sun and climbing but it was very cold on hill because of height and the cold wind.

A strawberry juice from Jamba Juice centre with energy booster was really helpful after the hike. I wonder why they have not thought about not opening the chain in India, they will be a big hit.

Update : I confirmed that we really hiked the correct peak, This link explains the trail in detail with photographs.