Mt. Umunhum is in an open space preserve and with all the CA state parks virtually shut down, this was the only legal Norcal Peak that's still doable…barely. The trail is a wide well maintained and graded single-track. It's just wide enough, if challenging, to maintain enough social distancing by stepping off whenever I encountered other hikers. Fortunately, there were few. The weather was perfect and the trail was dry, but in various sections, there were swarms of gnats that like to bite.

I used this hike as training for backpacking with a pack weight of 35 lbs on the way up and 24 on the decent. I had a gallon jug of water for ballast that I dumped out at the top before starting back down (no sense in stressing my joints).

I have a touch of asthma left over from what I suspect was a mild bout of the COVID back in February, but I maintained a good pace making the out and back hike in 3.5 hours. Even if we can't get up to the mountains in 2020, it's still necessary to train. I feel a little like a back-up quarterback that has to be ready, but may never go in the game.