Overnight Backpacking at Mission Peak

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Who says you can't go on an awesome adventure 20min from your home? =D I've been hiking Mission Peak for years, and it's become very popular in recent years. Everyone wants that iconic picture with the pole on the Peak. I think more people climb on it than use it for its intended purpose- to peer through the eye holes at various landmarks. Anyway, we're going to New Zealand next week to backpack the Routeburn Track. The first day of which will be a 1500ft elevation ascent over 5.5miles. Mission Peak is a 5.5mile roundtrip hike with a 2000ft elevation change. So I used this trail the past couple months on a nearly weekly basis as practice for New Zealand. I figure if I can do that, Routeburn will be cake. Sometime in January when I was making my weekly climb, backpackers fully loaded down with gear passed me on their way up. I had no idea there was a backpacking camp up there. When I looked into it later, sure enough, right behind The Peak, was Eagle Springs Campground.

Since it was mid-winter, I knew any backpacking trip was likely going to be cold, wet and miserable. So, I proposed the trip to my friends (in that exact manner), not thinking anyone besides my husband would join me. It made sense to practice, even if the weather was bad, only because New Zealand was likely to rain on us as well. So making sure our rain gear was in working order was a good idea. Surprisingly, three of our friends were down to join.

So I called the permit office a month before the trip, thinking it was possibly too late to get a campsite at the small campground. The ranger on the phone literally laughed at me. Apparently not too many people are dumb enough to backpack in the rain and cold lol. So, we were given site #1 (we later took over site #4- this is the site you want if you ever camp here).

This morning I'm drinking my coffee at home, conjuring up good lumberjack vibes from my bearded lumberjack coffee mug. We didn't need to start our trek until early afternoon. When day hiking, it only takes me two hours to reach the summit. So I figured, worst case scenario, it would take us 4hrs with full gear as a group.

We ended up starting our trek about 1:30pm, ominous rain clouds surrounding us in most directions. It certainly looked like it could pour any moment. I'm not kidding, the trail isn't any less steep just because you're a badass with backpacking gear on. That being said, we got a lot of impressed looks from other hikers. That was neat. =) It's my third backpacking trip now, and I always forget how differently weight in a pack sits on your body. It really wasn't any trouble backpacking- we just took our sweet time. About halfway up it started to do a misty sprinkling on us so we pulled over to a bench to throw on our backpack rain covers. I quickly discovered mine was too small. Gonna have to exchange that at REI (they have the most amazing return policy). I also realized I was quite toasty backpacking in my waterproof jacket (also from REI). That was good to know- won't need to worry about too many layers for New Zealand.

Around two and a half hours later we reached the junction that splits between going to the Peak and going to our destination, Eagle Springs Campground. That would be the last of the "up" for our backpacking that day. The last section of the trail was fairly level and occasionally down-sloped. The campground was literally right behind the steep backside of the Peak. It was also completely empty. There were four campsites, a porter potty, a water spigot and a couple trash cans. We had been reserved for site #1 but it, along with sites #2 and #3, were tiny and completely exposed. Site #4 looked glorious by comparison. It was higher on the hill and sheltered by a giant tree (here on named, The Party Tree).. So, we took the site and prayed no one else came along to claim it. I guess worst case we could have moved our tents. It turned out not to be an issue, though. So all in all, it took us about 3hrs to backpack to the campground from the Stanford Ave. trailhead.

We took turns helping each other set up our tents and unpacking our gear. The Party Tree was really an amazing tree. It's immense branches were great to just climb up and lie in. An hour later we realized it was getting darker, and checked to see what time the sun was going down. Against all odds, there appeared to be breaks in the clouds, suggesting a sunset was possible. AND, sunset was apparently occurring at that moment. We had two choices, hike back the way we came in to The Peak, or hike the opposite way, which appeared to head towards the Peak as well. It appeared shorter so we chose the latter. After carefully picking our way past swampy trail (which we dubbed The Quagmire) wine bladder and cups in hand, and climbing ten minutes up the trail, we reached a glorious sunset. It literally took our breaths away. We were happy and smiling as we drank our wine on rocks, looking very much like a glorified REI catalogue picture. I took a billion pictures, of course.

After our beautiful sunset ended, we climbed back down the muddy hill to our campsite to cook dinner. It ended up being full on dark by the time our food was done. Half of us had dehydrated food, the other two brought actual food (crackers, cheese, fruit, salami, etc.). I was excited to continue trying different types of dehydrated food packets. Tonight's menu for Chris and I included Chicken Vindaloo and Jamaican Jerk Chicken. Unfortunately, neither was particularly impressive and were quite soupy. So far, nothing has lived up to that lasagna we had on our Butano Backpacking trip (the search is still on, though). I had also brought a dehydrated Mocha Mousse Pie. I'd had high hopes for that one. Also disappointing. However, the Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups I'd brought as a back up dessert were amazing- and quickly devoured by everyone. Along with the wine bladder, which was about two bottles worth.

As we were cleaning up, and realizing it was actually only about 730pm, I wondered out loud, "I wonder what the skyline looks like right now up there..." We all looked at each other. "Let's go!" As if we had anything better to do!

We cleaned up our dinner trash, rinsed our dishes, grabbed our headlamps and headed past the Quagmire and back up the mud hill to our viewpoint. Again. Breath taken away. We could see all of the South and East Bay lit up by streetlights, buildings and headlights. I started taking pictures again when Laura asked how far The Peak was. Given that it was dark, we really had no idea (a quarter mile up a rocky slope??). But that suggestion (and a good deal of wine in our systems) decided it- let's go find The Peak!



So, up we scrambled to the Peak, headlamps finding the trail for us. It only took about ten minutes before we found the pole. I was very familiar with the terrain so I'm not sure if other people, not having that history with the trail and The Peak, would find it as easily in the dark. I should definitely caution doing it at night as there are cliffs with sheer drops if your wander too far over to either edge. Actually, the main trail is prohibited to hikers past 8pm. You need permits to be up in the park like we were after hours.

The skyline views were amazing. It didn't take long before we were all posing and climbing the pole to take our night shift versions of the stereotypical Mission Peak pole photos. We managed to get three of us girls on the pole at once. Two days later my inner legs would be covered in several very large bruises. Climbing the pole at night in winter was a slippery challenge. Incredibly worth the photos, though!

There were also a ton of creepy crawlies out, little centipede-millipede creatures. I have no idea what these bugs are called but we saw at least five different varieties skittering about the rocks and trails after dark. We headed back down the trail to our campsite again. We were all feeling pretty old and tired at that point. It was only 930pm lol.

Old people. Such an amazing day and evening, though.

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