Mount Umunhum, the highest peak in the Santa Cruz mountains at 3488 feet is an ubiquitous presence in our life. The cube, an abandoned air force radar station and a relic of the cold war, on top of Mount Umunhum is clearly visible from our backyard. Our family had attended the grand opening of the designer trail, a 3.7 miles trail, from Bald Mountain to the summit in September of 2017. I was fortunate to get a guided trip down from the summit to Bald Mountain parking lot on that day. After that day, I had done the 7.4 mile round trip hike several times in different seasons.
However, the sixteen mile or so round trip hike from the Hicks Road parking lot up to the summit is a different matter altogether. I think the hike is moderately challenging, the nearly twenty two hundred feet elevation from the Hicks Road parking lot to the summit in about eight miles is OK except in few patches where the grade is steep and taxing. The hike, I should say, is more a test of endurance than being really challenging. Constantly changing microclimate of the mountain can be a challenge for unprepared hikers. For us, the day started cool but sunny at 40F. As we went up, we faced drizzle, light rain, warm sun forcing us to take off our jackets and howling winds at the summit. After about twenty five hundred feet, it was misty all through.
Sometimes in 2018, I along with my wife tried to hike up from Hicks Road but after about three and half miles and after hiking up a steep grade, she did not feel well and we returned back. Then sometime during the summer of 2019, I did that hike alone. But such a long hike in summer, unless, done really early in the morning, is not pleasant.
I was planning do this hike up to the summit from Hicks Road this winter. However my wife won’t allow me to do this alone and she planned to join. Something or other came up during few of the previous days we planned and ultimately everything fell in place on Valentine’s Day.
Thus we ended up on the trail on this Valentine’s Day and we did it our way, slow and steady. Started our hike up at about 8:45AM and at 6:30 PM, when we returned to the parking lot, ours was the only car there and the gates on Mount Umunhum Road were closed. Thank God that the exit gate opened automatically.
Valentine’s Day ended on a high note.
The body was sore but the spirits were high. To be on the trails with your valentine on Valentine’s Day is a reward itself.
Featured image is of Mount Umunhum from Hicks Road parking lot. Taken by author on February 14, 2021.
poppy blooming season. Last few years were a disappointment due to paucity of rain. This year we had very good rains during February and March and I was hopeful that this would be a boom season. I was not disappointed. 
the flowers ( I think he likes to chase the bees). He had been hiking this trail every year for last nine years with me. By the time I started, it was already mid morning and it was getting warm.
I did not see any horses yesterday morning, there were many bikers as usual. The rail had cut deep gullies on the middle of trail making it difficult for the bikers to navigate. With Skooby I had to be extra careful to ensure that he was not in the path of oncoming bikes coming down hill. 
home. This entrance to the park was opened only last year, the old entrance being about four miles from my home. The trail from one entrance to the other over the hills is about eight miles one way. By the time I hit the trails, it was already around two thirty pm and I knew that I won’t be able to cover the full trail. A sixteen mile round trip is nearly a day long hike and not even advisable to hike alone in the hills for such a long hike. 
Calero Reservoir meanders along keeping company till it empties out cascading into Calero Reservoir in a man made waterfalls. There were wildflowers but not that it lit up the hills. 
Fleeting Muse 