Family portrait with headless dog, near forbidden Mt. Umhunum, originally uploaded by mslaura.

We went hiking near Mt. Umunhum two weeks ago. It was gorgeous, but slightly spooky.

Mt. Umunhum is the tallest peak in that area of the Santa Cruz Mountains (4th tallest overall), and the most visible from our little slice of the world. It appears to almost hang over Los Gatos, and has a big "box" clearly visible at the top.
You are not allowed to hike to the actual peak. There is an abandoned and crumbling military base there with lots of lead and asbestos contamination. The "box" visible at the top of the mountian is actually a seven story concrete building. Click the photo below to see some outstanding night photos of the base.




The property surrounding the peak is privately owned, and by notoriously hostile individuals who don't take kindly to trespassers. There are even rumors of a secret group of albinos living in the forest nearby.

You can read reports from people who have been to the top and encountered the property owners along the way, and even hear from a few of the property owners themselves in this thread.
I wish they would clean it up, but it will take millions of dollars and the Open Space District doesn't have that kind of cash. Not sure why the military wasn't required to clean it up. Backwards, don't you think?

Anyway, we didn't try to go to the top, we just hiked out to a nearby peak and kept it legal.

Our dog had a head when we started out, but lost it shortly before this photo. Yet another of the mysteries surrounding Mt. Umunhum...