Humming up Umunhum. Mount Umunhum that is. Hard to believe I had never ran to this iconic top over our South Bay area, nor hike, ride or drive for that matter. The closest I've been to it was during grueling Quicksilver 100K races which provided great views of it, from beneath.
Agnès and Max had hiked to the top a month ago and said it was a must to do but also reported how busy the single track trail was on weekends. I decided to pick a weekday then and, after a fist morning 7-hour shift (most of my days start with calls with India or the East Coast at 5 am, nowadays...), we drove to the trail head with Max at lunch time.
The weather looked uncertain so I picked long sleeves for a change. A few miles on 85 and it started raining... Oops, it looked like I didn't pick the right day to visit the top of a mountain! March showers kept coming and stopping but, as we were climbing up Hicks Road (I've never driven to that aid station, had no idea about the significant incline), the clouds looked darker and darker and the only vehicles we were seeing were County Park Rangers driving down. That's always encouraging...
Not surprisingly then, the parking lot was empty. With the humidity, I felt chilly right out of the car. At least we had 3.5 miles of uphill to warm up! I took off ahead of Max but, after half a mile, the legs were still feeling tired from the Mission Peak effort and subsequent soreness, even 4 days later. I walked some of the 2nd and 3rd mile, since this was an Open Course race. The trail was turning into a running stream in many places. At the top, the course says you have to go around the mountain top, anti-clockwise. I hesitated as the gate was closed with a sign indicating that the trail was too hazardous given the conditions. But I didn't want to get off the official course, what a dilemma...
Eventually we reached the top in the cloud, so long for the wonderful 360-degree views of the Bay and Santa Cruz which Agnès had sold me, I'll have to go up again in better conditions. A quick selfie as an additional proof, and down we were.
Because of the trail closure, Max ran the mountain top, clockwise. Myself, I got confused on which trail or stair was going down to the parking lot and lost precious seconds. It took me almost two miles of sprinting downhill to catch him, such a great rabbit! :-)
At least we didn't see a soul so that was a plus from a speed standpoint. But I'll have to try again with fresh legs, I may be able to shave a few minutes. For sure, youngsters and speedsters can get well under an hour on that one, although maybe not on a busy weekend or holiday. 1:04:51 for me this round.
As a first experience, I was super happy to see such a well designed and managed trail. It has been open for more than 3.5 years already (September 2017), it seems to age well. And it was really time I get there, finally...
Check this Hum up Um Open Course out, the trip to the top is really worth it if you live in the Bay Area! And look at this 3D flyover to get a preview!
See you soon, virtually, on that... Open Course!
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