Mount El Sombroso
Hike Review
We hiked the Kennedy Trail to the peak of Mount El Sombroso and back.
Unlike the reviews I read online, the double-track fire road was mostly shaded and very pleasant to hike. This was probably because it’s almost winter and the sun is following a southern track.
The fire road itself was in pretty good condition and mostly hard-packed dirt.
The views, especially on the way down, were awfully nice. The clouds’ giant shadows cast on San Jose looked just so pretty.
We heard and saw a couple of animals, but mostly it was quiet. We saw a dozen or so hikers and cyclists on the hike, which meant there were miles where we saw no one.
The parking lot has space for only two cars, so we parked on the street. There is a portable toilet at the trailhead, but I did not use it.
What I Learned
Cassie got more practice walking steep downhills that would prevent falling. Tiny steps! Weight over the feet!
Cassie’s hands got cold near the end of the hike even though it was a warm day and we were hiking at a decent pace. It’s something we should figure out before hiking in winter.
What Happened?
12.2 miles, 4 hrs 58 mins, 3352 ft of ascent
We had wanted to hike this trail a few weeks ago, but I had woken up with hip pain, so had to punt. On this day though, we woke up feeling great.
It had been a while since we’ve hiked one over 10 miles as we both spent a chunk of summer getting healthy and overcoming injuries. We did hike Mission Peak 3 weeks ago, and we felt this was the next step to getting back into trail shape, as it is twice as long as Mission Peak with 50% more elevation gain.
The hike was lovely in how uneventful it was. There was shade throughout the hike, so I did not overheat. As usual, we talked about fun topics, so we did not get bored. And we were well prepared, so there was no drama to this hike.
When we got to the top, we ate the snacks we had brought, then hiked right back down. Maybe I shouldn’t have been impressed with the hike given that it’s a double-track fire road the whole time, but I liked the hike. I loved the shade, the views were good for a hike that was a 15-minute drive away from home, and it was the right amount of difficulty to make it challenging without making me doubt the outcome. It was a great confidence-building outing.
At the end of the hike, I thought it’d be fun to try to aim for a 5-hour car-to-car time, so we hiked back faster than we would have on the way down. We may have even jogged for a quarter mile or so to make it comfortably to the car. A fun day through and through.
