Completed: May 28, 2023 | Elevation: 2,694′ | Trail: n/a | Distance: n/a
Update 2024 March 10: While writing my guidebook to hiking the Nifty Ninety, I discovered that we had stopped just shy of the true summit of Mount Madonna. The summit is actually farther up the road, where it dead-ends into a parking lot. We spent a Sunday driving back to the park. Once there, we walked around the summit and visited the Henry Miller site. More importantly, we stopped at our favorite Gilroy barbecue joint for lunch.
Having already hiked for 5 hours to complete Church and Mine Hills in Alamden Quicksilver County Park and Knibbs Knob in Uvas Canyon County Park, we were thrilled that we could literally drive to the top of our next Nifty Ninety peak: Mt. Madonna.
It was a 40-minute drive from Uvas Canyon County Park to the top of Mt. Madonna along the backroads of Morgan Hill. We drove past a few wineries before turning onto Route 152 towards Watsonville. The winding, two-lane road took us through the redwoods and when we turned onto Pole Line road we were bathed in fog.
To reach the summit, we stayed on Pole Line past the main entrance and continued up hill turning right at the sign to the Amphitheater. From here, we continued to the end of the road, where it dead-ends into a small parking lot.
The summit is the parking lot/picnic area and isn’t really recognizable as a peak. There are two large green water tanks at the top.
I got out to snap a few photos then it was back in the car to hurry off to Coyote Peak, our fifth and final peak for the day. No rest for the weary, and those on a deadline! Our hope was to make it there before it got dark.
Find an overview of our grand hike of the South Bay Nifty Nineties here.
Follow our progress bagging the Bay Area’s Nifty Ninety here.
Coda
Since it was already getting late in the day, and this was one of the few peaks that didn’t require a hike, we did not explore this park at all other than what we could see through our car windows. With it’s location nestled among the redwoods, it looks like a great place to camp, with multiple campgrounds spread throughout, and hike in the summer. We saw lots of families walking around. Considered part of the Santa Cruz Mountain Range, this is possibly another place that we’ll contemplate coming back to in the future.