Mission Peak with Elizabeth

Walked up mission peak (almost) all the way to the Sunol overlook. There is where the 5th bench is. From the car, she climbed more than 1700ft in about 2 hours. This is amazing for a someone who just turned 7 less than 1 month ago.

I am extremely amazed and proud of what this little girl is capable of.

Mount Diablo - Summit Trail

8:04 AM - 11:40AM

Same old route from south gate to summit.
10+ miles and 3200ft of elevation gain.
Details captured in 2008 hike.

The only different this time is I got up to the summit in just a few seconds under 2 hour.
Round trip time is just over 3.5 hour.

A little bit faster that the 2 year younger version of me.
That was ~3 hour to the top and 5 hour round trip...

Lessen Volcanic Park - Lessen Peak Trail

8:42am to 11:22am

Lassen Peak Trail Head to Lassen Peak and back
Party: Simon
Distance is ~5 miles
Elevation gain is ~2000 ft
(trail head at 8500ft to peak at 10500ft)
Trail head to Top of Lessen Peak - 1 hr 24 minutes

After the July trip passing through and briefly visited Mt St Helen. I thought it would be interesting to go climb a volcano. Mt St Helen is a bit of a way away and Lessen Peak is relatively a lot more accessible. It turns out to be quite a wonderful hike. The weather is perfect, other than the fact that there was a 30-40 mph wind close to the peak.

Above is a view from a few mile away from the trial head and a "full" view of the trial to the top.

A picture of the valcan eye above is formed by volcano activities pushing a column of rock out from underneath. A reminder of the active earth below. On the right is looking up from the trail head. Below are picture of an interest "building" at the peak, a missile like capsule probably housing an antenna of some sort.



The triangulation marker placed by the USGS. From this point looking north is Mt Shasta. Another California volcano which is part of the Cascades.


A tremendous view of Lake Helen at the base of Lassen Peak.

Juneal, Alaska - East Medenhall Glacier Trail

~9:30am to ~1:00pm

East Mandenhall Glacier Trail
Party: Tour group from the same cruise
Distance is ~4.5 miles
Elevation gain is ~500 ft
Latitude - 58.3N (the most northern hike so far)

Hiking in Alaska... Wow! Something I have been looking forward to ever since we book the cruise ticket about 1 month ahead of the trip. What would it be like? It doesn't really matter. It would be "cool" hiking on top of the world (latitude wise).

I wasn't expecting a quick drive-through tour for Juneau... Well, why not, I am on a tour anyway.

Well, there were a lot of unexpected when I finally got on the hike. First of all, I didn't expect it would be drizzling in Juneau. What? They actual rain 300 days out of a year? Okay, many of those days were snowing. That's news to me. Where was my windbreaker? Back in California... I was the only person on the hike with a short sleeves. Com'on! Its Alaska after all, I cold have at least bring some long sleeves... Luckily it wasn't that cold and I warmed up 5 minutes into the hike. I was the East Mendelhall Glacier Trail we were on.

As for the trial... It was not anything I expected at all. Why would I expect to hike in a rain forest in Alaska. Ferns, more ferns and moss I have every seen in my life. How can so many trees grow on the solid granite without even any soil? How would the moss grow on all these trees? It was magical and magnificent... I was walking on roots and moss like hard wood floor and carpet. With the tranquility, I was out of this world.

About an hour into the hike, Mendelhall Glacier comes into sight. It was illusive for the beginning coming in and out of the fog. With some patience, the Glacier shows it grandiose.

It was worth the wait. Far better than taking a bus and going to the visitor center. This is a true complete immersion of myself in the wilderness of Alaska. The full experience.

Now, here is the sad part of the story. I found out later that one of my coworkers went to the same place about 10 years ago. The Glacier was almost 1 mile closer to the visitor center than it is today. The Glacier has receded a lot over the past decade and it is not slowing down. Go before it disappears.

Yosemite - Four Mile Trail + Panoramic Trail + Mist Trail

6:00 AM to late afternoon

Valley to Glacia Point via 4 mile trail
to top of Nevada Fall via Panaramic trail

to Happy isle via Mist trail

Party: Dave

Distance: ~20 miles

Elevation Gain: ~4000+ ft

Upper Yosemite Falls, Yosemite Point

7:44am to 1:54pm

Valley to Top of Upper Yosemite Fall to Yosemite Point
Party: Self
Distance is 10.46 miles
Elevation gain is ~3400 ft
Trail head to Top of Yosemite Fall - 2 hr 40 minutes
to Yosemite Point - 3 hr 39 minutes
back to trail head - 6 hr 10 minutes




















This is the second time I want up to the top of Upper Yosemite Fall. However, this is the first time I do a Yosemite hike all by myself. Suvived the potential bear attack (no bear was actually anywhere in sight for that matter). Being such a populat hiking route in Yosemite, I saw a surprisingly few hikers that day, probably less than 10 for the whole hike which is a real treat - I was thinking about bear but being in the middle of September and such a hot day, the bear would want to deal with me. View is just as spectacular with the wafer falls running.

Diamond Head - Oahu, Hawaii

9:06am to 10:08am (1 hour 2 minutes)

Trailhead to Top
Party: Self
Distance is 1.76 miles
Elevation gain is ~440
Trail head to Top - 21min

Since I am in Oahu, Hawaii, on vacation, might as well take advantage of doing a tourist hike. It is certainly proven to be a tourists favorite. The entire hike is so crowded. After all, this is more like a vacation within a vacation... getting out by myself for a quick hike...

Even it is relative early in the morning, it is still way up in the high eighties, and with the sun beating on me, it was not the easiest hike...