Ed Levine to Mission Peak to Stanford 8/21/2011


We have been wanting to a longer route for a while now, so today we decided to start from Sandy Wool Lake in the Ed Levine Park on Calveras in Milpitas, and end at Mission Peak. Based on the map, Sandy Wool Lake to Mission Peak to Stanford is almost 11 miles. We arranged to be dropped off at the lake. It was hot but being late afternoon, it was sure to become cooler soon. We started at 4:45 P.M., but later found that this was a mistake.

We started on the Calaveras Ridge trail for 0.6 miles and then turned left on to the Tularcitos trail, where we were greeted by a very noisy rattlesnake. Once I went near the snake, he decided to allow us passage, but nevertheless, he stood alert and  rattled away. As if this was not enough, another long (almost 5+ feet) snake greeted us just 20 feet ahead. He looked like he just had a big meal and crossed the path slowly. We moved ahead on the Tularcitos trail and turned right onto the Aqua Caliente trail, which is almost a mile and half. There, we recieved some shade from the trees along to way . In addition, we crossed a gurgling water stream. 


My daughter enjoyed getting wet in the stream. Moving on, we met a large family of turkeys (almost 30 of them) before turning onto the Caliente trail. The kids were thrilled.


After that leg, the Bay Area Ridge trail starts, which is pretty much open grassland. We got a beautiful view of the bay. However, it was almost getting past 6.45pm. Our path took us very close to Mount Allison, which is the highest point on the trail. Mt. Allison stands at 2,687 feet, while Monument Peak is at a close 2,594 feet.  Since it was getting late, we decided circumvent instead of climb Mission Peak, and turned left 500 meters before the peak trail began. We decided to go by the Rangers station. On the way we saw a beautiful sunset. The kids were now starting to get a little uneasy as it was getting dark and the clouds had covered the view of bay.  From the ranger station, a trail connected to the Stanford trail which we started kind of jogging down. It was now very dark and was difficult to see the trail. We learned that if we are planning an eleven mile hike, 4:45 is probably a bit too late to start. Anyway, we reached at the base around 9.00 P.M.

I checked my NewYu, it showed almost 22K+ steps, slightly less than 11 miles. My feet were little sore but the important thing was that the kids and I enjoyed the hike. 

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