Reading from the descriptions, we knew Mt. Umunhum is the easiest peak.  Having hiked Black Mtn 2 weeks back in good time, my son Rian (almost 11) was feeling confident.  As we reached the Bald Mtn parking lot though, the absence of parking spots at 9:40am put a damper on his spirits, and all he wanted was to go back home!  We waited for almost 45 mins but no luck.  So we decided we'd drive up to the cube and do the hike in reverse, downhill first and then uphill.

Rian and me usually struggle with downhill, and since we were first doing the downhill, it actually ended up doing us a lot of good.  Fresh legs did not complain much about the downhill.  We finished 3.5 miles in 1hr 18mins with an avg of 22:25 per mile.

The bugs were very annoying though.  We could not wait to be done and get out of there.  My previous visit to Mt. Umunhum was on a cooler day last February and I had Rian and Amit (the husband) dress up in long pants. Even though the temperature was in the higher 60s, the boys roasted in the long pants.

Uphill was quick too, 1h 21mins with an avg of 22:57 per mile.  We took a scenic detour for an overlook.  We spent a few mins up top.  Amit and I also ran/raced up all the stairs 🙂 with a little break where the stairs break up.  Most fun and crazy part of the hike 😀