Today's hike takes us to Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve, better known as Mt. Unumhum, the mountain with that big cube on top, visible from all of the South Bay.
This used to be a military installation with a big radar antenna on top providing the U.S. between 1957 and 1980 with early warnings if invaders were to arrive from across the Pacific. Modern technology has rendered the radar station on the mountain useless and the military left in the early 1980's. The Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District acquired the land. After years of cleanup, the mountain opened for public use in 2017.
Because we had never hiked this trail before, didn't know how steep it was, and didn't want to make this a day hike, we decided to leave our cars at the Bald Mountain parking lot, car pool to the top of Mt. Unumhum, and hike from the top down to the parking lot. The trail has an elevation difference of 1150 ft and is 3.8 miles long.
The view from the top in the shadow of the cube is gorgeous, but obviously having a clear day would help.
The trail is mostly shaded for the upper 3 miles, many switch backs with an easy, but steady elevation gain.
On the lower elevations, there's less shade, but still nice views.
A very nice hike. Next time we'll do it in reverse and hike up to the top.
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