Mission Peak is a
mountain peak
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...
located east of
Fremont, California
Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area, Fremont has a population of 230,504 as of 2020, making it the fourth List of cities and towns in the San Fra ...
. It is the northern summit on a ridge that includes
Mount Allison and
Monument Peak. Mission Peak has symbolic importance, and is depicted on the logo of the City of Fremont. It is located in Mission Peak Regional Preserve, a
regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government.
Definition
A regional park can be a special park distri ...
operated by the
East Bay Regional Park District
The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is a special district operating in Alameda County and Contra Costa County, California, within the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. It maintains and operates a system of regional parks which ...
.
Hiking and bicycling
![Summit of Mission Peak](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Summit_of_Mission_Peak.JPG)
Mission Peak is relatively close to
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...
, so it is popular with local hikers, bicyclists, and sightseers as well as tourists from further away for its view of Silicon Valley and strenuous climb. The "Mission Peeker" marker pole at the summit is a frequently-photographed landmark. The Stanford Avenue entrance receives up to two thousand visitors per day during weekends. Visitor numbers increased significantly after 2010, and it is the most popular attraction in Fremont.
An ascent up Mission Peak is at least a six-mile-long round trip, and tends to take two to five hours for hikers and one to one-and-a-half hours for bicyclists and runners. Dehydration and heat exhaustion are common because of the lack of shade. Guidelines recommend carrying two liters of water per person, extra water for dogs, and sun protection. Signs and barbed wire prohibit off-trail shortcuts in order to slow down erosion. No food, water bottles, or supplies are sold at the park.
Mission Peak is located directly on the Peak Trail, a trail which approaches Mission Peak from the northwest and the southeast . Each ascent of Mission Peak eventually travels over a stretch of the Peak Trail before reaching the summit. Trails reach Mission Peak from four staging areas: Stanford Avenue,
Ohlone College
Ohlone College (Ohlone or OC) is a public community college with its main campus in Fremont, California and a second campus in Newark. It is part of the California Community College System. The Ohlone Community College District serves the cit ...
,
Sunol Regional Wilderness
The Sunol Regional Wilderness is a regional park in Alameda County, the eastern San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California. It is located near the town of Sunol, south of Pleasanton and east of Fremont.
The park was established in 1962, ...
, and
Ed R. Levin County Park.
Depending on weather conditions, Bay Area peaks including
Mount Diablo
Mount Diablo is a mountain of the Diablo Range, in Contra Costa County of the eastern San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. It is south of Clayton and northeast of Danville. It is an isolated upthrust peak of , visible from most ...
,
Mount Hamilton, and
Mount Tamalpais
Mount Tamalpais (; ; Miwok: ''Támal Pájiṣ''), known locally as Mount Tam, is a peak in Marin County, California, United States, often considered symbolic of Marin County. Much of Mount Tamalpais is protected within public lands such as Moun ...
can be seen. Furthermore, the peak provides good views of
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
,
San Jose,
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
Fremont,
Union City, and
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
. On very clear days, the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
range are visible 100 miles (160 km) to the east.
Mission Peak connects to a network of regional trails and contains part of the
Bay Area Ridge Trail
The Bay Area Ridge Trail (Ridge Trail) is a planned multi-use trail along the hill and mountain ridgelines ringing the San Francisco Bay Area, in Northern California. Currently, have been established. When complete, the trail will connect ov ...
, which is under construction and has gaps to the north of Mission Peak. The Eagle Spring Backpack campsite is just east of the summit.
Iconic "Mission Peeker" summit pole
Sculptor and park ranger Leonard Page along with a crew of six erected the iconic "Mission Peeker" on December 27, 1990.
The pole is over six feet (1.8 m) in height, and the foundation is two feet (0.6 m) deep with 120 pounds (54 kg) of concrete.
The sculptor's purpose was to promote environmental awareness. The sticks on the pole represent each pillar of environmental recycling. Sealed inside the steel tube are a
crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macro ...
with traditional cultural uses, an
Ohlone charmstone
A charmstone, charm-stone or charm stone is a stone or mineral artifact of various types associated with various traditional cultures, including those of Scotland and the native cultures of California and the American southwest. Typically they ...
replica, a bottle of 1990 zinfandel wine whose yeast
overshoot represents world population trends, and five time capsules with articles and photographs. The time capsules were intended to be opened in a century or more, after 2090, and focus on rainforest preservation, AIDS, and homelessness. They offer images from popular culture of Bart Simpson, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Gary Larson's Far Side cartoons.
The
cultural meaning of monuments often change, and the
use
Use may refer to:
* Use (law), an obligation on a person to whom property has been conveyed
* Use (liturgy), a special form of Roman Catholic ritual adopted for use in a particular diocese
* Use–mention distinction, the distinction between using ...
of this artifact has evolved over a quarter century. Though designed in 1988 as an "interpretive post", with sight tubes pointing to other Bay Area landmarks and cities, the "peeker" function has since been rendered archaic and its environmental message is not widely known.
The marker now functions as a standalone cultural
monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...
, and draws thousands of weekly sightseers and tourists that make it the most photographed artifact in southern Alameda County and the top tourist attraction in
Fremont.
Snapchat has a geofilter image of the pole representing
Fremont.
The pole has become a contested
cultural symbol.
In 2014,
iconoclastic
Iconoclasm (from Ancient Greek, Greek: grc, wikt:εἰκών, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, wikt:κλάω, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, wikt:εἰκών, εἰκών + wi ...
local residents, the Recreation Department of the City of Fremont and the Stewardship Division of EBRPD discussed razing the landmark to dissuade sightseers.
Park access controversy
Controversy surrounds access to Mission Peak. Parking is congested near the free 40-space Stanford Avenue lot. Most visitors enter there, and the congestion spills over to nearby public streets on weekends. The
East Bay Regional Park District
The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is a special district operating in Alameda County and Contra Costa County, California, within the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. It maintains and operates a system of regional parks which ...
cut park service hours (formerly 5 am to 10 pm) by 30% in late 2014, in part to divert visitors away from the Stanford Avenue entrance. The Stanford opening was delayed to 6:30 am instead of the former 5:00 am, generating a crowd of sunrise viewers who assemble at the gate before it opens on weekends.
In 2015 they discussed further restrictions including a per person daily use (entry) fee, parking permits to restrict public street parking while favoring local residents, parking fees to reduce parking congestion, a dog fee to reduce visits by dog owners and demolition of the iconic summit pole. EBRPD proposed a larger parking lot at the Stanford entrance in 2012; and, as of 2015, completion was expected in 2018.
The city temporarily restricted visitor parking on streets near the Stanford Avenue trail-head in late 2016. Residential permits are required on Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays in front of houses, near open fields, and near empty lots.
One hundred spaces on Weibel Dr are restricted, not fronting houses. The restrictions are temporary, slated to expire on July 7, 2020.
The temporary restriction of park operating hours and street parking, and the parking expansion have generated controversy. The number of visitors dropped significantly prior to 2017, and park activists linked the drop to the parking restrictions and to the cutback of park hours.
Standard operating hours were 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and the temporary operating hours are slated to expire in July 2020. More than 1,500 parking tickets were issued in the first year, and the city collected over $100,000 in fines.
In 2016, the park district approved plans to construct 300 new parking spaces near the main entrance.
However, residents filed suit against the parking expansion on environmental grounds, after petitioning to restrict parking on public streets. The same law firm filed the 2016 action which closed the Regional Park at Vargas Plateau for nearly a year.
The lawsuit, principally aimed at keeping park visitors out of the local residential neighborhood, was settled in late 2018. The settlement removed legal obstacles that had stood in the way of the expansion, which was originally estimated to cost $6.5 million in 2016. The park district had raised about $1.5 million for the parking lot as of 2018.
Hang gliding and paragliding
![Mission Peak Paraglider](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Mission_Peak_Paraglider.jpg)
Mission Peak Regional Preserve is a popular location for hang gliding and paragliding.
The Wings of Rogallo Northern California Hang Gliding Association Inc. has been licensed by the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) to administer hang gliding and paragliding at Mission Peak since 1983.
Hikers can observe takeoffs from the launch point above sea level, marked by a large wind sock. Landings occur adjacent to the main hiking trail about one quarter mile (400 m) from the Stanford Avenue entrance, near the proposed site of a parking lot expected in late 2018.
On September 6, 1971, Dave Kilbourne, one of the founders of the Wings of Rogallo, hiked atop Mission Ridge and launched a flex wing hang glider unaided. The flight lasted more than an hour, and he became the first person in the world to do so.
Environment
![Mission Peak](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Mission_Peak.JPG)
Mission Peak is home to
California oak woodland
California oak woodland is a plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California in the United States and northwestern Baja California in Mexico. Oak woodland is widespread at lower elevations in coasta ...
and
chaparral
Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...
. Typical of the interior coast ranges, the woodland contains
coast live oak
''Quercus agrifolia'', the California live oak, or coast live oak, is a highly variable, often evergreen oak tree, a type of live oak, native to the California Floristic Province. It may be shrubby, depending on age and growing location, but is ...
,
California bay,
California buckeye
''Aesculus californica'', commonly known as the California buckeye or California horse-chestnut, is a species of buckeye native to California and southwestern Oregon.
Description
It is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, up to tall, with ...
,
blue oak, and
western sycamore
''Platanus racemosa'' is a species of plane tree known by several common names, including California sycamore, western sycamore, California plane tree, and in North American Spanish aliso. ''Platanus racemosa'' is native to California and Baja ...
s.
Black oak
Black Oak may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Black Oak, Arkansas
* Black Oak, Daviess County, Indiana
* Black Oak, Lake County, Indiana, a neighborhood of Gary, Indiana
* Black Oak, Missouri
Other
* Black Oak Arkansas
Black Oak Ar ...
is rare, because most stands have been logged.
Bigleaf maple
''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus '' Acer''.
It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska to southern California. Some stands are al ...
s and
gray pine
''Pinus sabiniana'' (sometimes spelled ''P. sabineana''), with vernacular names including towani pine, foothill pine, gray pine, bull pine, and digger pine, is a pine endemic to California in the United States. Some sources discourage using the n ...
s are less common, though the
old-growth
An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...
oak forest in the Hidden Valley (see Hiking) known as A.A. Moore Memorial Grove contains all the tree species. Many oaks are 100 to 600 years old, with few younger than 50. Oak saplings have been eaten by cattle and choked by invasives for centuries. The steepest slopes are home to hard, evergreen chaparral, primarily
California sagebrush
''Artemisia californica'', also known as California sagebrush, is a species of western North American shrub in the sunflower family.
Description
''Artemisia californica'' branches from the base and grows out from there, becoming rounded; it gro ...
,
chamise
''Adenostoma fasciculatum'', commonly known as chamise or greasewood, is a flowering plant native to California and Baja California. This shrub is one of the most widespread plants of the California chaparral ecoregion. Chamise produces a specia ...
, and
scrub oak Scrub oak is a common name for several species of small, shrubby oaks. It may refer to:
*the Chaparral plant community in California, or to one of the following species.
In California
*California scrub oak ('' Quercus berberidifolia''), a wides ...
.
The grasslands have native and nonnative plants brought by cows, though native wildflowers grow in the spring. The
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...
have a feisty reputation.
Black-tailed deer
Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all r ...
are abundant.
Pronghorn
The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...
and
tule elk
The tule elk (''Cervus canadensis nannodes'') is a subspecies of elk found only in California, ranging from the grasslands and marshlands of the Central Valley to the grassy hills on the coast. The subspecies name derives from the tule (), a s ...
were extirpated in the late 19th century. Tule elk were reintroduced to Alameda County, and now visit occasionally. Predators include
bobcats
The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...
,
coyotes
The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological nich ...
,
gray foxes
The gray fox (''Urocyon cinereoargenteus''), or grey fox, is an omnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, widespread throughout North America and Central America. This species and its only congener, the diminutive island fox (''Urocyon litto ...
, and very rarely seen
mountain lions
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. ...
. Small mammals include the
black-tailed jackrabbit
The black-tailed jackrabbit (''Lepus californicus''), also known as the American desert hare, is a common hare of the western United States and Mexico, where it is found at elevations from sea level up to . Reaching a length around , and a ...
, the
western gray squirrel
The western gray squirrel (''Sciurus griseus'') is a tree squirrel found along the western coast of the United States and Mexico. In some places, this species has also been known as the silver-gray squirrel, the California gray squirrel, the Or ...
, and
California ground squirrels.
Visitors should beware that
northern Pacific rattlesnakes are very common.
Southern Alameda County has a high density of nesting
golden eagle
The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of p ...
s, seen often, along with
turkey vulture
The turkey vulture (''Cathartes aura'') is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus '' Cathartes'' of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of Sout ...
s,
red-tailed hawk
The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members wit ...
s,
red-shouldered hawk
The red-shouldered hawk (''Buteo lineatus'') is a medium-sized buteo. Its breeding range spans eastern North America and along the coast of California and northern to northeastern-central Mexico. It is a permanent resident throughout most of its ...
s,
prairie falcon
The prairie falcon (''Falco mexicanus'') is a medium-large sized falcon of western North America. It is about the size of a peregrine falcon or a crow, with an average length of 40 cm (16 in), wingspan of approximately 1 meter (40&nb ...
s, and
sharp-shinned hawk
The sharp-shinned hawk (''Accipiter striatus'') is a small hawk, with males being the smallest hawks in the United States and Canada, but with the species averaging larger than some Neotropical species, such as the tiny hawk. The taxonomy is fa ...
s. They nest in on the slopes of steep valleys, where no trails enter.
Light snow falls most winters, and melts quickly. Heavy snow falls once or twice a decade, such as in March 2006 (see picture in the Hiking and bicycling section). On December 7, 2009, the snow level dropped to and snow remained for three days.
Geology
Mission Peak has a large (300 m wide by 1200 m long) landslide that started in 1998 due to the
El Niño
El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date L ...
rains. Landslides had recurred here in the geological past.
[
]
The landslide threatened new housing, and local development regulations were changed to address the geotechnical hazards.
[
]
Some sources have incorrectly labeled Mission Peak as an extinct volcano, because of the sharp point of the peak. However, the mountain is a product of natural uplift and erosion, not of volcanic origin. This range is being compressed and uplifted due to the proximity of the
Hayward Fault
The Hayward Fault Zone is a right-lateral strike-slip geologic fault zone capable of generating destructive earthquakes. This fault is about long, situated mainly along the western base of the hills on the east side of San Francisco Bay. It runs ...
to the west and the
Calaveras Fault
The Calaveras Fault is a major branch of the San Andreas Fault System that is located in northern California in the San Francisco Bay Area. Activity on the different segments of the fault includes moderate and large earthquakes as well as aseismi ...
to the east.
References
External links
*
*
{{East Bay Regional Parks
Diablo Range
Mountains of Alameda County, California
Geography of Fremont, California
East Bay Regional Park District
Parks in Alameda County, California
Mountains of the San Francisco Bay Area
Tourist attractions in Fremont, California
Mountains of Northern California
Bay Area Ridge Trail