Mt. Hamilton in the Winter

With the forecast for sunny and temperatures in the 60s, climbing Mt. Hamilton in January sounds like a great way to take in the views as the hills are turning green (although let’s hope for more rain soon!) Driving up from Hollister, I hit fog in Gilroy. Larry, Cam and Jerome left a beautiful clear City and ran into the fog at Menlo Park. There were signs that it would clear quickly fortunately.

We headed from the Sunnyvale CalTrain station for the base of the mountain at Alum Rock and Highway 130, where a new member, David Eaton, joined us for the ascent and return. We regrouped at Grant Park, and then continued to long climb to the top and Lick Observatory. We were rewarded with views of the Sierra’s, Mt. Diablo and Mt. Tam, while looking towards the west you could see a fog/haze.

The descent is technical with switchbacks, sand in the road from the recent snows (hard to believe) and gravel or rocks that fall into the road, but the descent after climbing back up from Grant Park has a perfectly paved road and was a blast.

We made our trek back across the “Silli Valley” (as Larry called it in response to my Facebook status that morning “David is going to go ride up a mountain… what was he thinking??”) past the San Jose Airport and up Central Expressway to Sunnvale. While I was ready for the ride to be over for the day (it was after sunset), I did enjoy the day and more so, the great company. Thanks again, Larry!