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Woodside resident Claudia Fung was not happy that cyclists were peeing on her property. So she plotted revenge – and inadvertently became an institution in the Kings Mountain community.
Fung has been selling homemade organic fruit popsicles at the top of Kings Mountain every summer since 2020, attracting the business of tired, thirsty cyclists completing their climb up Kings Mountain and Tunitas Creek roads.
The idea started as a joke (“I was just making fun, like, ‘Oh, maybe I should make lemonade and make money from them as revenge,’” Fung said), but has evolved into what Fung describes as a duty.
“It feels like I need to do it every summer, otherwise they’ll get disappointed,” she said. “When they see my cart, their eyes basically glow. They are thirsty, they need something to refresh. So now I’m friends with them. They’re not my enemies anymore.”
Fung, a graphic designer, was living in South San Francisco with her husband and dog until 2018, when they moved to a tiny fixer-upper in the Kings Mountain community. The couple quickly realized their new property had been a popular bathroom spot for cyclists, and Fung’s revenge plan was born.
A neighbor had given her a book of popsicle recipes, and Fung liked how she could get creative with the flavors and colors of the popsicles. So she sketched a design for a mobile popsicle stand with a freezer box, and her husband, a carpenter, brought the idea to life.
Fung found that she couldn’t stay mad at the cyclists for long and quickly developed friendships, even going on a road trip with two of her customers last month.
Fung’s hours of operations are variable – typically Saturdays, sometimes Sundays, from around 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on warm summer days. She posts to her Instagram, Moss + Wonder, to let regulars know when she’ll be open.
The name, which also encompasses her freelance graphic design business, was inspired by living in nature, she said, noting that the redwood trees on Kings Mountain are covered in moss.
Fung donates leftover popsicles to the Kings Mountain Volunteer Fire Brigade, a group of volunteer firefighters that serves her community.
She offers a variety of rotating popsicle flavors ($7 each), which are inspired by and named after nature. Her wrappers are made of paper to reduce plastic waste.
The top seller is Sunrise, made from organic mango and organic strawberry and layered to create an ombre effect reminiscent of a sunrise. Fung’s personal favorite is Arches, a peach black tea popsicle infused with ginger, and her husband’s favorite is Yellowstone, a coconut milk-based popsicle with pineapple chunks and chia seeds.
“I try to use as many organic fruits as possible because my husband is the taster for my popsicles, sometimes my dog too, so I try to use the best ingredients as possible,” Fung said.
Fung also likes that popsicles bring out child-like excitement in customers, she said, noting that while ice cream is commonly eaten in adulthood, popsicles are a less common treat.
“Popsicles are simple and have a way of bringing us back to childhood,” she said.
The best part of the job, Fung added, is seeing people’s faces light up at the sight of her popsicle stand.
“This one guy said, ‘Am I in heaven? Are you real?’” she laughed.
But when she’s not there, some customers are disappointed. As San Mateo resident and avid cyclist Peter Heller put it, “Whenever I climb, I’m always anticipating that she’s there. But when she’s not, it’s always a bit of a letdown.”
Heller added that the uncertainty is part of the excitement, and the popsicles are a great reward for a difficult climb.
“You wonder as you’re climbing, ‘Is she there today?’ And you want her to be there,” he said. “And then you see her, and then you’ve earned your popsicle. It’s the payoff for all of the effort that you’ve put in.”
Heller cycles up Kings Mountain twice a week, making sure to come up on the weekend to grab a popsicle.
“That’s when it’s most fun because as you come up the mountain, you start to hear all the chatter because there’s a crowd,” he said. “It becomes a social event a little bit, because everybody’s eating their popsicles and talking.”
Cyclist Ted Zayner lives just a mile from Fung’s popsicle stand, and he often takes his bike just to “enjoy a popsicle and talk to all the cyclists who are coming by,” he said. He’s tried every flavor of popsicle available, but his favorite is Arches.
“It has a nice ginger flavor and a little bit of bite to it, and a really refreshing, not (an) overwhelmingly peach flavor,” he said. “She’s quite creative and quite talented in developing these interesting and enjoyable flavors.”
The first time he heard about the popsicle stand was through a friend and colleague, but he didn’t know until he visited it that Fung – who he already knew from the neighborhood – was behind the business.
“She’s become kind of a fixture in the cycling community,” he said. “Clearly everyone enjoys having that treat at the top of the mountain.”
Moss + Wonder, 14444 Skyline Blvd., Woodside; Instagram: @mossandwonder. Hours vary, check Instagram for updates.
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