Mt. Woodson trail

Today, in the San Diego area, we were forcasted to have Santa Ana weather conditions. This means clear skies and winds from the east.

I planned a hike up to Mt Woodson today because of the clear skies and my wife was going to be busy in the morning. I talked her into dropping me at the trailhead on Highway 67 by the Forest Service Fire Station and picking me up at Lake Poway when I finished. It was a cool morning at about 42 degrees when she let me out of the car. There were about 10 to 15 other cars parked along the highway, so others had started earlier than me at 8am. I was going to be doing some geocaching along the trail so I had my GPS and notes on what to look for. The trail/road to the top of Mt. Woodson is paved all the way to the top for the different agencies that service the radio towers at the top.

The trail starts at an elevation of 1656 ft. and rises quickly to 2876 ft. at the top, for a gain of 1400 ft. in just about 2.5 miles.

The hike down the other side has a loss of 1950 ft. but it takes 4 miles so it's not so bad.

Mt. Woodson was called by the indians "The Mountain of Moonlit Rocks" and the trail winds it's way through boulders that are bigger than my house.

I normally do my hiking on the weekdays and when I keep running into people on weekends it reminds me how crowded the trail can become on Saturdays and Sundays. All the people I meet on the trails are friendly and happy to chat while walking.

After I reached the peak and started heading down to Lake Poway the trail gets really nice. You find yourself walking through low chaparral and more boulders.

The rock to the left is know as "Potato Chip Rock". I have seen pictures of people standing on the chip. Total length of the chip is about 40 ft. so it is much larger than it shows in the picture.

A view of Ramona Dam

I can see all the way to Point Loma!

End of the trail is on the left side of the grass.

This is a nice picture of Lake Poway.

I logged 6.5 miles and found 7 geocaches.

The temperature at the end of my hike was about 70 degrees. So, it was a comfortable hike the whole trip.