We took the MST to the “Trailhead” of Mount Hardy, marked by orange ribbon. The trail is pretty well defined, not as well as the MST but pretty easy to manage. Close to the summit we reached a USGS marker for “NO 2 Black MT 1933.” There is a nice campsite / sitting area in a field very close to the summit. It was a gorgeous day, and the weather was perfect. On our way back down we decided to take a side trail, marked by blue ribbon. We assumed it was to another overlook, but the trail continued down the side of the mountain. We checked the GPS and realized we were headed toward the Parkway. We hiked the rest of the way from the Parkway to 215 and back to our parking lot.