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Official Map can be download at http://www.ebparks.org/files/EBRPD_files/brochure/mission_peak_map.pdf

I have been to mission peak for many times and found it very enjoyable.

It’s roughly a three mile climb up to Mission Peak at about 2500 feet. Starting from the trailhead at the end of of Stanford Ave, passing the first gate (ot1 on the map), I followed the Hidden Valley Trail. The hike is moderately hard with constant ascending. There are a lot of shortcuts in between the trails. If you would like to challenge yourself a little more, they will save you some time but make your heart beat faster. Before you get to second gate (marked at ot2 on the map), there is a pile of stones. Don't follow the Peak Meadow trail if you are determined to get to the top :-)

Make a right turn when you hit the Peak trail. The last several hundred yards could be tough. On top of Mission Peak there’s an old, hollow pipe that sticks out of the ground. From there you have a very good view of the neighborhood areas.

I have been to here twice. The first time everything is OK, and I have taken a number of pictures. The second time, I was trying to challenge myself a little, and ran into huge trouble.

The trail is known as "Woods Trail." If you come from CA 85, exit #8 at Camden Avenue. Stay in the left lanes, and at the end of the ramp, turn left onto Camden. Drive 1.7 miles, then turn right onto Hicks Road. Drive 6 miles, at a stop sign, turn right onto Mount Umunhum Road, and the trailhead's parking lot is right on you right. You will see the sign below.

Woods trail features with its name: a lot of trees covered the trail so that even in a sunny day, you still have a lot of shades. The trail is 2.7 miles one-way, and moderately easy.

Hiking in bayarea, you can see a lot of power towers, which I like very much. In Sierra Azul, you can find some very unique ones.

Power lines pass the valley with a huge span, and looked very elegant. This picture was take on the other side of the valley.

On you way, scenes change from time to time, sometimes you can see low clouds on other mountains.

You will also see the peak of Mt. Umunhum with some concrete box on the top. Today, when I looked at this picture, I have a very special feeling :−)

Woods Trail ends with a fork to three different directions: going back, Alma bridge road and Barlow Road.

I took the Barlow Road which started to be pretty steep. After less than a mile ascendant, I got the top of the trail, with the peak of Umunhum right in front of you. On the official map, that area is closed to public. My trouble started for not consulting the map in advance. :-P

Started from (1), I went off the trail and started to climb to the peak of Mt. Umunhum. This time, I was fully convinced by the Chinese saying: "Mountains right in front of your eyes may take your horse's life." The concrete building looked so close to me, but actually it was 1000 feet higher than where I stood!

The terrain was very tough, with soft soil sliding all the time and woods all around. Many tree branches looked very thick, but whenever you tried to grasp them, they would fall. Many rocks were so weathered that they could not hold my weight. Towards the end, I had to move on some huge rocks, steep cliff was right on my side. When I got to the top of the mountain, there were fences around the building with sign saying "Hazard zone, keep out!"

Not a single person was there. I didn't want to get into troubles so I started to hike down. At the beginning, I tried my best to follow the same path I came, but soon found it not possible. With all the trees around, I could hardly know the direction.

I ended up following a creek and went down until I got to point (2), where I started to see water in the creek. Had I been a little more experienced, I would have followed the creek further. However, for no reason, I felt that was not the right way to go. So I went off the creek and moved toward point (3), where I realized I was totally lost!

It was so lucky that my cell phone still had signal there! So I called my wife and 911. Time was 5:30PM and the sun started to set. I soon got phone calls from the rangers saying that a number of people had been out to look for me. But with limited information and ways to communicate, they had trouble to locate where I was.

Soon, it turned fully dark all around. My wife sent me a message:"There are mnt lions in that area so get some stick in your hand. ..." I wasn't able to find a good stick, so I started to collect some rocks. It was not as cold as I expected, but I did not have any idea how I was going to stay there for a whole night. I did have a little water and food in my backpack, but my cell phone's battery had only one bar left.
Rangers used sirens and lights when they drove on the trails, they called me to see if they are getting closer or not. Finally, they stopped at a place where I can clearly see the lights on their trucks. "Help! Help! Help!" I guess I said more "help" than I did in my life so far, I even tried to wave my cell phone with light on. (Later on, after I was rescued, I was told that they could not see it.) The rangers started to climb up along the creek, I could even see their flashlights! I made my way towards them, shouting loudly to let them know where I was, and finally, I was rescued.

To cut long story shorter, I was rescued at around 8:15PM. The ranger who found me gave me a ride to the trailhead. His name is John. On the way, he said to me: "Most time hikers get lost when they go off the trail; most time they are injured when they go off the trail; so, keep this in mind: stay on the trail when hiking!"

Almaden Quicksilver County Park is located in south San Jose, in the town of New Almaden. From Interstate I-280 in Santa Clara, take CA 85 south. Exit at Almaden Expressway, make the first left, then the next right onto Almaden Expressway. Drive about 4 miles, then turn right onto Old Almaden Road. Drive on Old Almaden about 3.5 miles to the Hacienda Trailhead on the right side of the road. You can find more detailed rules at sccgov's site.

When we got to the trailhead, it was already 3:30PM. With bigleaf maples, and black and blue oaks shedding their colorful leaves, the park felt very quite. So, we decided to take it easy and enjoy the peace.

We first followed Mine Hill Trail. When we got to the first fork, we took the path to Hacienda Trail.

After heading downhill for a while, the trail starts to wind up to the top a small hill. From there, you can look over the nearby hills and downtown San Jose.

After about 1.5 miles, Hacienda Trail meets Virl O Norton Trail where we made a slight left turn and stayed on Hacienda.

Before Hacienda meets Capehorn Pass Trail, one can find a set of rocks of very unique texture. After about .2 mile, we came back to Mine Hill and hiked downhill to the parking lot.

There is a saying in Chinese, "If a mountain has spirit inside, even if it is not high, it can still be very elegant." This is exactly my feeling when I started the engine heading home. For sure, I will revisit here again. :−) With more than 34 miles of trails in the park, there must be lots of nice places to explore!

From Interstate I-280 in Santa Clara, take exit El Monte/Moody Road and drive west on Moody Road. Pass the traffic light in front of Foothill College, and at a stop sign turn left to stay on Moody. Drive about 0.5 mile more, then turn left onto Rhus Ridge Road. Take another 0.2 mile on the narrow road, then bear right into the parking lot. This is the trailhead of Rhus Ridge Trail.

This 9.4 mile (round trip) hike to the top of Black Mountain has two quite different segments. The first mile, known as Rhus Ridge Trail is a bit steep.

As Rhus Ridge Trail zigzags uphill, the longest steep section starts form about 0.5 mile, and at 0.90 mile the trail crests, ends at a signed junction.

Turn right onto Black Mountain Trail. The initial stretch of Black Mountain Trail is a nicely graded footpath winding through woods and chaparral. The quite woods have a lot of creatures inside. Deers are very common in this area of the preserve except that they tend stay a little far away from human beings.

At about 3.2 miles, the trail steps out under a high-tension power line. You can hear clearly the noise on the power lines, as the electricity rushing though "under very high pressure."

Form there, the footpath widens to fire road width, and shoots nearly straight uphill, with little shade. Stay on the trail. After a brief downhill stretch, there are more steep sections, some of them quite rocky. Finally, at 4.4 miles, you'll reach a gate, with some telecoms base station nearby.

While you enjoy the accomplishment of an over 2300 foot climb all the way up the mountain, don't forget to enjoy the great view!

From Interstate I-280 in Santa Clara County, exit Page Mill Road, drive west on Page Mill about 7.5 miles, a large dirt parking lot is on the left of the road. This is the trailhead of Monte Bello open space preserve. Parking is available for more than 40 cars, and there is no entrance or parking fees. Maps are available at an information signboard.

It was drizzling when I started. As far as I remember, this was the first rain since summer. Tiny rain drops flied in the air as wind blew; I suddenly realized, north California's dry season was no longer around.

There are a lot of different trails. To be frank, I did't know which one is the best. So I randomly followed one: canyon trail.

The trail was not hard at all, but very delightful. Different views kept on shifting, grassland, oak trees, there was even a big pond on the side of the trail.

When I got to a sign saying that Black Mountain is only 0.2 miles away, I decided to head downhill.

Rain became heavier and fog in the woods became much closer and denser. I felt I was heading into a painting.

With no one around, I felt a little chilly. So I started to whistle. Apparently, I did have some companies near by. They seemed to be scared and started to run.

It only took them one minute to realize that I was just another nice peaceful visitor. Everyone calmed down and resumed his normal behaviors. It was as if a drop of color fell on the painting, and the painter skillfully made it a piece of fallen leaf on the ground.

It has cooled down for a while before I look back whereas the memory is still so vivid.

It was a not-so-typical hot dry day in the fall. When I took this picture, both my legs, calves and thighs got very bad cramps. I could not even stand up to get a better view. That was on the top of Half Dome, Yosemite. Several minutes ago, everyone said 'you are almost there' and I finally was there. That was about 5:30PM.

It took me more than half an hour to get down from the dome. Thanks god, my arms are still strong and functioning. When getting down with cables, arms mattered more. This picture was taken before the final spurt started. Looking back, I have to say it was a little too risky to try it given the cramps on my legs.

When I got here, my friends called 911 to ask for help. The ranger arrived in less than 20 minutes. He calmed me down and let me know the worst scenario would be to stay in his ranger station for a night. I had some drink and took a power bar given by him. Cramps seemed to be fading away. We started to head down. I guess the view was still as beautiful as we hiked up, but nobody seemed to have the mode to appreciate it. It was getting dark.

We went to the ranger's station. I was fed with some Gatorade and caned sardines. The ranger checked me up to make sure I could continue to hike down. He was a very nice guy!

It was fully dark when we got back to Nevada fall. Again, the above pictures were taken when I first came here in the afternoon. We spent about 4 hours to hike back to the trailhead. Many thanks to the friends' help, we finally made it safely!

That night was a new moon. On the way to trailhead, I looked up into the sky and was amazed by the Milky Way. Really could not remember when was the last time I saw that many stars together. I guess, they have always been there, but I simply could not see.

When you hike, sometimes you can get a cramp down in your calves, or even on your thighs. A cramp is a sudden, involuntary and painful muscle spasm. These hurt like the blazes, can almost cripple you.

2 things that cause cramp are (1) heavy exercise (2) loss of salt through excessive sweating such as in heat exhaustion.

To relieve cramps in your calves and thighs, straighten out your leg so that your knee is not bent. If the cramp is in the front of your muscle then bend your knee. Essentially this is to make the muscle as long as it can possibly get. If you get the cramp back in your calf not only should you straighten your knee but you should also point your toes up.

In all cases, massage the affected area so that you can get the muscle to relax. Also, it’s a good idea to get some fluids into you — sports drinks are great.

When the situation becomes not manageable, you should call for help and sometimes call 911 before it is too late. Sometimes, rangers will be the best resource to help. Remember, you need to give yourself a break, do not try to make your body work hard for you any more!

I have found a very nice set of Videos for Exercise & Fitness Advice on http://www.videojug.com/. Among which this title How To Deal With A Cramp In The Calf is very helpful.