Mission Peak ^3x CC / NN

While we were driving back from Tahoe the previous day, Jackie had asked about Mission Peak. She had heard over the past few years from friends and acquaintances that it was a tough hike, but from me she'd gotten more of a "meh". Since she had not been up it, she felt unable to form a proper opinion. I hadn't been up there in four years so when she asked me the next morning if I wanted to do something, I suggested we go there. She immediately agreed and we soon had brother Ryan on board as well. It would be the first time the three of us had been on an outing since Chinamans Hat in Oahu a year ago. The trail was busy as usual, but not crazy weekend busy where parking is all but impossible. The hills were starting to turn a lovely green which made for a more scenic hike and happier cows, too. We spent just over an hour hiking the three miles and 2,000ft of gain to the summit, fairly respectable. The road/trail has been recently graded with fresh gravel (in fact, they were working on the upper section when we were there), making the hike less muddy than it might have been otherwise (it had rained some the night before). Someone had erected a Christmas tree at the slightly lower north summit where the viewing scopes are located. Folks were taking turns getting photos of themselves with the tree. We had the higher south summit with the benchmark to ourselves, but because of a brisk wind blowing over the top, we didn't stay long. The air was fairly clear, making it easy to see the tall buildings in SF, with Mt. Tamalpais and Mt. Diablo looking sharper than usual. A nice way to spend a few hours in the afternoon...

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