El Sombroso is located in the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve in the Santa Cruz
Mtns. It used to be the OSP highpoint until nearby Mt. Umunhum was acquired and
folded into the OSP. It had been 18yrs since I last paid a visit, at that time
I was heading to Mt. Umunhum
when it was still closed to the public. Today's
outing was no such thrash-fest, really just a training exercise to get me in
some sort of shape for the Sierra Challenge which isn't too far off. The outing
is about 12mi with 3,000ft of gain from my starting point off Kennedy
Rd in Los Gatos, all on dirt roads. I got an early start so as to beat
the 80F temps expected in the afternoon. The highpoint is located just off a
utility road next to a transmission tower. Most folks simply go to the
top of the road and call it good, but with my OCD I spent about 10min working my
way through a poison oak jungle to get to the highpoint buried
in a wooded thicket. I was done by 11:30a, having spent about four and a quarter
hours on the effort.