Also, there is a small swimming pool, a basketball court, garden and a large picnic area. On the left, a row of more than one hundred mailboxes link homeowners to the outside world. Above the mailboxes is a large map of the area burned into wood. Up the hill on the left is a large building housing the local volunteer fire department. The area looks well maintained, with well-trimmed grass and trees.
Roads go off in several directions, following ridges out to home sites.
But while the public center of Las Cumbres looks quite civilized, the views of the surrounding mountains are a bit awesome. The mountains seem bigger, the canyons darker and bluer. It has more of the feel of Colorado than California. Although it seems a very rural, remote area, Los Gatos is only about ten miles, or 26 minutes, away. Still, the weather is different here.