Dan's Outside

The Cows of San Francisco

Cattle. Mission Peak. January 29, 2006. © Copyright Dan Mitchell.

Today’s hike took me up a very muddy trail, largely through range land – and past this small herd of cattle on a hillside overlooking San Francisco Bay.

A little more about this hike…

Last week when I climbed the main trail to the summit of Mission Peak, I noticed a few people going up the trail that branches to the right very close to the beginning of the climb. I was reminded that I had descended this alternate route several times in the past, and I thought it might be fun to try going up the mountain that way some time.

I started up the main trail this morning at about 7:15 with the plan of following the main trail to the top again, but when I reached the junction described above I just decided to take it instead. In drops to the right, crosses a creek to travel towards a corral, and loops to the left as it starts to ascend.

It didn’t appear than many people had hiked it since the last rain. For the most part I saw tracks of cattle and horses and possibly some deer. The soil in these hilly grasslands turns into a slippery, sucking paste when it is wet, and this trail had plenty of that today. In most sections I could avoid the worst of it by walking on the edges of the trail. In a few cases, such as a narrow section after some switchbacks, I had to actually leave the trail.

After passing through a very narrow, muddy section at the top of a set of three or four switchbacks, I turned left onto a less-used trail that seemed like it would take a more direct route toward the summit. Of course, this meant that the climb was steep and continuous. It was in this section that I passed the cattle in the photo above.

This trail finally joins the main Horse Heaven trail shortly before crossing a high point just below Mission Peak and then descending to a small creek. Right about here, what had been a clearing day suddenly turned into a very foggy day as clouds whipped up the side of the peak from the west. As I finally arrived at the ridge and passed through a cattle gate, there was sun to the east and above, but otherwise a lot of clouds all around.

I took a few pictures here before ascending the ridge to the peak. I sat down on the southeast summit (which I swear is a few feet higher than the northwest summit where everyone else stops) and had a snack. Clouds quickly enveloped the peak and soon I couldn’t see the 50 feet to the other summit. I descended on the main route in thick fog which didn’t clear until a good distance back down the mountain.

January 29, 2006 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Mission Peak