August 9, 2017 - Fremont Peak and Mission San Juan Bautista

Title: August 9, 2017 - Fremont Peak and Mission San Juan Bautista
Hike Info : Description :  Extra Photo's 

Trail head: Fremont Peak State Park

Hike Info:

Type: Hiking

Trail: Fremont Peak Trail and Service Road

Destination: Fremont Peak

Distance:  1.25 miles  ¹

Elevation Rise:  350'

Maximum Elevation: 3,169'

 ¹I did not turn on my GPS. The times and mileages are from a previous hike Sherri and I did five years ago for Capture California

Description:

When I saw this hike posted on meetup, I had two things: 

• Yeah! John and Cathey are leading hikes again. 
• Oh wow, a three hour drive for a mile and quarter hike.

Start of trail

But we signed up and are going. This will be a good short hike for me. The last hike I did, I rested as much as I walked. Lately my caloric intake is pretty low so my energy levels have been lacking. So a short hike, with others with a good uphill will be a challenge for me.

We meet at Eddie’s Bakery at 7am. There will be 12 on the trip, most of of them we know so this is a good group to crash and burn, if I do. This event will be in three parts:

•     Hike up Fremont Peak
•     Eat at Jardine’s de San Juan
•     Visit Mission San Juan Bautista

Transmitter Towers

Sherri starts off driving and goes all the way to Casa de Fruita. We have in our car Nancy B who we have hiked with before and her friend Zar. After Casa de Fruita, I drive and am the lead car. First, Sherri prefers I drive on the curvy roads which is the final 10 miles up to the Fremont Peak State Park. Second, John wants me to lead us up the way to Fremont Peak State Park because he thinks I know where I am going-foolish man. So glad to take a quick peek at a map before we start off.

Fremont Peak State Park

Betty on the trail

We pay our fee and go up to the trailhead parking area-you can tell we are from Fresno because I find one of the few spots of shade. We gather up-by this time it is 10:15 and are ready to tromps off. John asks me to take the lead. We will see how I do. Even though it is a short hike and not much of a climb, I know I cannot go very fast or far and am concerned about even pushing myself after a hike a couple of weeks again. The good part is that my caloric intake has increased the last couple of days.

Sherri and Mike

We start out for a short distance on the paved service road, but then quickly turn off to the right (north) on a dirt trail. This part is only a gradual up. I can feel my lungs a moving even on this, but I am walking at a decent pace, at least nobody is on my back. Fortunately there is enough places to stop and enjoy the views. There is a cloud bank to the west covering both ocean and land, which I admire often. But we must stop and take a look at it. Then later we come across some stone steps which I comment it must be “natural” steps-they are not. But it is another stop and breath place for me.

We cross a small ridge and all of the small trees disappear with dried grass replacing it. But the cloud bank stretches as far as we can see. The trail gradually slopes up with a switchback or two before landing us on an unused road out of a transmitter station. Fortunately for me, this is a good place to stop and peruse the landscape, which I do.

View from the top

Now it is only one more section to the top. Lien advances in front of the old man, scrambling the last little bit. That last 100’ of the trail is an easy class 2 scramble up some rock, nothing hard, just not trail quality walking. I am glad to have made it to the shelf before the peak. Several others go up to the top, including Sherri, John and Betty. But I noticed that I was a bit wobbly on the rock below, so I stay on the shelf rather than climb. While up their Lien’s daughter sits close by and we talk a bit about schooling, life and photography. An enjoyable young woman. She even soothes my ego by saying that a lot of old people-my words-are not as active and interesting as us.

Lien, Cathey and Jeffery

We start down the peak. I manage to lag behind, but not from feeling bad, but just enjoying the time out. A short ways further, John and Jeffery are waiting for me, so we walk down together. Going down, I feel pretty good. We take the service road back instead of the trail-a bit shorter and much steeper. An enjoyable short walk. 

Fremont Peak

Eating

Our next stop is at Jardine’s de San Juan, a good Mexican restaurant. They have a garden eating area. Very relaxing. We sit with John, Cathey, Betty and Maria, enjoying the food and company. Evidently most of us do not feel like moving much because nobody makes an effort to get up or summon for the bill.

Mission San Juan Bautista

Mission Bells

But there is one more stop for our day: the mission. So we saunter over to it, walking around to it—all of a block or two. We stop by the livery, examining many of the coaches and wagons used in the various era’s of Euro occupancy of the area. Then over to the mission. But the mission is the Earthquake walk. Because she asked where the San Andreas Fault was I take her down to it.

Inside the Mission

Sherri, Betty and I go into the mission and see the various parts. There is a museum which explains its construction and life on the mission. Also a couple of old hymnals are under glass-both in Latin. The museum also contains a study of the different missions in silver gelatin. Finally to the interior of the mission.

I drive back to Fresno. Seems like this trip tired us out since I was the only one who stayed awake-a good thing since I was driving. That was OK as I was not sleepy or that tired. We made it back to Eddie’s by 6:00pm. Now it is time for me to flop on the couch and rest.

Extra Photo's

Sherri coming down from Fremont Peak-those are our cars!

View from Earthquake Walk

Mission Wall