East Slope

Approach

This route seemed to be part of a makeshift trail that had tried to be constructed on the east side of Loma Prieta, but never got completed. If you want to get up this mountain without going on fire road, this is a good route. From the fork with Loma Prieta Rd. and Summit Rd, take LP Rd. which goes north, towards Mt. Umunhum. As you travel along side of Loma Prieta, you can see into the canyon where the source for Los Gatos Creek is. After you have bypassed LP, you'll come to a fork. One road goes the opposite way to the south, one road continues north, and the third ends in about 20 yards. Take the road that goes south. This travels along side the other side of the mountain. In about 1/4 mile, the road turns left, starting the ride to Crystal Peak and Mt. Chuai. At this point, the route begins.

Route Description

The beginning of the trail is a little hard to find. At the point where the fire road turns to the east, go right, and a thickly covered fire road leads along the south side of LP. You'll see a little space in the bushes on the right side. Go through there and follow a small trail that basically goes strait up the hill. Some branches have been cleared, but otherwise the trail is pretty thick. The path traverses up the mountain for a little, until it just goes strait up. After about 200 feet of scrambling, you will step out of the brush onto another fire road. To the left are some antenneas. Walk past them, and find the trail that goes through low-lying shrubs. This section of the route isn't steep at all, and leads you right onto the heli-pad on the east side of the summit. Once you get onto the pavement, you are basically on the summit. No extreme bushwacking was needed to get to this point.

Essential Gear

It is a probably a good idea to wear some sort of long sleeved clothing while going through the shrubs to avoid poison oak. The summit could be pretty windy, like it was when I was there.

Miscellaneous Info

If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.

Images

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