Ohlone Trail, Part 1

Went for a run up and over Mission Peak on and around the Ohlone Trail today. It was a very nice run. A little longer and quite a bit more climbing than last week. 15.5 miles, 4450 ft elevation gain. Track on MB.

The Ohlone Trail runs 35 miles from a trailhead in Fremont to Del Valle park near Livermore. My plan is to run the entire trail as a series of out-and-backs that get progressively harder (and more remote). Mission Peak is the easiest section and there is really nothing special about reaching the summit. Everybody and their dog (literally) was out there today.

What made my run out of the ordinary is that I descended down the back side of Mission Peak and continued on the Ohlone trail to Sunol Wilderness before turning around and heading back up.



The first time near the peak it was too cloudy so I skipped the peak (you take a short spur trail to it) and continued on. Instead of sticking to the main trail I took a longer alternate route that presented itself.



I caught a nice view of the valley on the other side just as I descended below the cloud-deck.



After the peak I saw nobody until I got back up to the peak again. All I had for company were some bovine friends.



Sunol Wilderness is another place I like to train. Perhaps next week I will climb up the peaks in this picture.



On the return trip Mission Peak is still socked in. I went up anyway and timer-shot this picture of myself. Kinda classic: muddy, wet, cold adventure racer huddled in the rocks. Cool.



Instead of taking the boring wide road down I took a steep technical single track on the other side of the peak. On the way down I caught a nice view of the crags below the peak and some sun breaking though the clouds. You can see the road as well.



And a view across the bay to the city.