Black Mountain

Since I had a hike to make up, and because I am training for Half Dome, I decided to meet mentor Deb and teammate Matt for a Sunday morning hike up to the summit of Black Mountain.

We met at the trailhead, got ready and started off at about 8:00 am. There was almost no warm up period, perhaps only the first 100 feet or so. After that, the trail went sharply up for the next mile or so. After that, however, the trail wound around the ridge of the mountain at a more gentle incline with many switchbacks. Most of the trail had quite a bit of cover, which was good because it was a bright sunny day.

We did the other half of Black Mountain when we hiked up the PG&E trail at Rancho San Antonio Park. The Black Mountain Trail meets the PG&E Trail along the way.

The final half mile to the summit was quite steep, although not nearly as difficult as the Stanford Avenue side of Mission Peak. We hiked to the junction with Montebello Road, a fire road that goes up to the antenna installation at the peak. Apparently, there is a winery further down Montebello Road and we had some discussion about a wine tasting fundraiser being a great way to end a hike!

There were not as many wildflowers in evidence on this hike, although there was lots and lots of poison oak. Nevertheless, I have so far managed to avoid it.

Amazingly, I was not at all sore after this hike. Maybe just a tad, but definitely less sore than after finishing our Almaden Quicksilver hike yesterday.