A little bit of Bay Space Chilly Warfare historical past and nice Bay Space views await guests to Mount Umunhum within the Santa Cruz Mountains above San Jose.
At 3,486 ft, Mount Umunhum is among the many highest peaks within the Bay Space. On a transparent day, it’s doable to see skylines of the area’s three largest cities and as far north as Mount Tamalpais in Marin County. From just a few spots on the twisty highway up the mountain, Monterey Bay can also be seen. Downtown San Jose, 22 miles away, is simple to identify, as are Mount Hamilton and Mount Diablo.
Hikers benefit from the glorious views of a lot of the Bay Space area from atop Mount Umunhum. (Courtesy Larry Sokoloff)
Situated within the greater than 19,000-acre Sierra Azul Open House Protect, Mount Umunhum is reached by driving two-lane roads from Camden Avenue into the mountains south of San Jose. It takes about 35 minutes to drive there from state Freeway 85. On a current Sunday, the summit parking zone had loads of room for autos.
Umunhum means “resting place of the hummingbird” within the language of the native Amah Mutsun individuals who lived within the space.
“The spoken word sounds like the noise a hummingbird makes while hovering” reads an indication on the summit. Whereas no hummingbirds had been seen throughout our go to, the comparatively uncommon Western Purple Martin, a fowl within the swallow household, has been sighted within the space, in line with Ryan McCauley, a spokesman for the Midpeninsula Regional Open House District.
Andrew Lu, a San Jose resident, was drawn to the realm, which sees occasional snow on winter days and fierce warmth in the summertime, for the views and climbing. “It’s actually our second time here,” he stated.
For others, Mount Umunhum is named the height south of San Jose with a field on high of it. The dice, because it’s typically known as, is a radar tower left over from the Chilly Warfare, when dozens of radar stations operated alongside the West Coast.
The Midpeninsula Regional Open House District oversees the Sierra Azul Open House Protect, which is house to Mount Umunhum, the positioning of a former U.S. Air Drive station. (Courtesy Larry Sokoloff)
From 1957 to 1980, the summit housed the Almaden Air Drive Station, a house to navy members and their households. The Midpeninsula Regional Open House District, which manages open house within the South Bay, bought the 44-acre station in 1986. In 2009, the district acquired a $3.2 million in federal funding to scrub up the decommissioned base. Some 3,000 cubic yards of hazardous supplies had been eliminated, and 80 buildings had been recycled earlier than the positioning opened to the general public in 2017.
Guests can stroll and hike on a cement path with stairs to the multi-story dice on the restored summit. Whereas the constructing is closed to the general public, the realm, which is open from 7 a.m. till half-hour after sundown, gives a ceremonial circle, nice views and data and displays about Umunhum’s historical past. Hikers will even discover trails on the summit, together with a 3.5-mile path from Bald Mountain that winds via the chaparral foliage. The summit is arid and rocky, however inexperienced timber spill down the mountains under.
The brief path to Mount Umunhum’s summit contains benches, restrooms and picnic tables. There’s a disabled parking and drop off areas for individuals who can’t stroll to the viewing space.
The Midpeninsula Open House District gives free “Sentinel in the Sky” leisurely quarter-mile hikes leaving from the parking space on the high of Mount Umunhum Highway in San Jose at 1 p.m. Jan. 12 and Feb. 9. Retired Midpen ranger Ken Miller and Umunhum Conservancy President Basim Jaber will share particulars about dwelling on Mount Umunhum throughout the Chilly Warfare. Go to openspace.org/occasions/ for extra info.
