Urban Hiker SF

At a book signing for Urban Trails San Francisco in early 2017, an attendee asked me if I had heard of Mt. Umunhum. Um...unhum? Um...no. I had done a fair bit of hiking in the Bay Area to research and write my book, so I was perplexed as to why I hadn't heard about this mountain. When I returned home, I Googled it and realized that Mt. Umunhum had been closed to the public since 1958. Lucky for me, it was set to re-open in September 2017.  Silicon Valley is somewhere there under the clouds Resting Place of the Hummingbird That gave me some time to learn more about this place. At 3,486 feet, Mt. Umunhum is the fourth highest peak in the Santa Cruz mountains and the highest point on the Bay Area Ridge Trail .  The mountain's name means "resting place of the hummingbird" in the Ohlone language. In fact, at one time, this was a large Native American population centers—with 70 diverse tribal units. Here's a timeline of what happened to the mountain s...

L ast year, I went to a wedding reception at the Cavallo Point Lodge and my boyfriend and I decided to spend the night there. The morning after the reception, we wanted to take advantage of our location and get some exercise, so we decided to explore some local trails. I revisited these trails again recently and wanted to write about them so you can take advantage of them, too. Hike 1: Cavallo Point Loop 
1.9 miles, 300 feet elevation gain Shortened version on the trail on Relive     Strava route to download or duplicate From outside the hotel’s main building (where the valet stand is) walk diagonally across the large lawn to reach the intersection of Murray Circle and Center Road. There you'll see a (small) trail sign for the Bay Trail. Head straight here onto Moore Road and then take your first left onto Sommerville Street. Start walking along Horseshoe Bay.  When you reach the Presidio Yacht Club after about 0.1 mile, take a wood walkway in front of ...