Mt. Umunhum

[ratsblast]

If you haven't taken a ride to the top it is a pretty fun 5 mile jaunt of pretty clean pavement. Great view at the top. Gnarley old radar tower up there.

 

[Marcoose]

Cool. Bucket list.

 

[ratsblast]

It is right outside of Los Gatos so it shouldn't be require any special outfitting or preparation, with a name like that sound like it is just east of Timbuktu.

 

[Butch]

I hope to make it up there this week. It has been many, many years since I've been there.

Which bike? The R6? The Alta? The Black Dream? The Marin?
First world problems.

 

[sportsluvr]

The gate has been removed?

 

[doc4216]

Some towers up there are currently working. CG Sector SF still utilizes the radio tower for vessel traffic and LOBs during search and rescues.

 

[Entoptic]

I live right by it. Wonderful ride up. Great roads and yes the gate is gone. Complete with new parking lot and turn around up the road a bit with disabled parking.

 

[banshee01]

Next time my wife and I go hwy 9 from Santa Cruz into Saratoga we will have to give it a try

 

[Butch]

https://www.openspace.org/mount-umunhum-sierra-azul

Mid Peninsula Open Space.
Seems pretty not peninsula to me, but hey, I’m no cartographer.

 

[HadesOmega]

Might be the first electric bike up there this was in 2017

 

[Killroy1999]

Might be the first electric bike up there this was in 2017

Maybe maybe not. I went there right when it opened.

It sucks up there, never go. :laughing

 

[HadesOmega]

Oh yeah I did a ride report on that ride if anyone wants to see what you're in for. You can head through New Almaden also.

https://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=522148&highlight=Umunhum

 

[kpke]

When you go, be sure to park and walk around. There's great views up there.

When I took my girl I could point out all the stuff of my childhood growing up in the Almaden Valley.:thumbup

 

[ratsblast]

New Almaden is a trippy, weird little town tucked away. The Quicksilver mine is up in them hills. Fun day trip. I had to go back North through Los Gatos and montesereno, which was weird in itself.

 

[budman]

I keep forgetting to head up there.

Thanks for the reminder!

 

[Gary856]

Come on, this place is right around the corner for a day ride from anywhere around the bay...

They call the "cube" the "radar tower", and I wondered for a long time - the building itself is the radar? The radar is inside the building? Well, a picture is worth a thousand words - the antenna mounted atop the roof is no longer there. (I just realize when I hear the word radar I only visualized the antenna but not the electronics.)

 

[ST Guy]

Great views from up there and a short but nice ride. Note that unless you're handicapped, no parking at the very top. You must park in the lot below and hike up the stairs.

Great view looking out over the Pacific. As I recall, you can just make out the Santa Cruz pier. I've been meaning to go back up there with my spotting scope.

 

[firstbuell]

Come on, this place is right around the corner for a day ride from anywhere around the bay...

They call the "cube" the "radar tower", and I wondered for a long time - the building itself is the radar? The radar is inside the building? Well, a picture is worth a thousand words - the antenna mounted atop the roof is no longer there. (I just realize when I hear the word radar I only visualized the antenna but not the electronics.)

my 1st child was born in ‘76 - she called it “the tower with a T”
later, with USAF gone, for her it became “the tower with no T”

separately, I have cassettes recorded live offa FM during the towerz active period,
when I lived near Bernal & US-101 - each tape is marked every 15 sec or so with the characteristic “whoop” of the powerful radar signal as the antenna rotated

 

[HadesOmega]

 

[R3DS!X]

I rode my bicycle up it. The new pavement was real nice. no a lot of people out there one it.