Black Mountain
This hike starts north of Black Mountain in the City of San Diego off Black Mountain Road. Contrary to what the USGS topo map shows, Black Mountain Road in this area is a high volume four lane divided boulevard with a lot of grading and construction going on in the surroundings. The road that leads to the trailhead parking area is still dirt and gravel but is fairly well-maintained and the paved road that leads from the dirt road to the parking area at the trailhead is pretty good. This is a nice hike and the trails are well-maintained and marked. I hiked it for the first time on Thursday, February 15th. There had been a lot of rain the week before and there were no problems with the trails or with vehicular access. Unfortunately, the air was kind of hazy, probably from leftover moisture from the rains, so my photos aren't up to my usual breathtaking standard.
Click here to see a topo map with my route and its elevation profile. This is a large (500KB) file so it may take a while to load.
Black Mountain Photos
The parking area and the trail were deserted on Feb. 15th, 2001. The fence along the trail at the beginning helps to get you going in the right direction.
In many areas, the trail is nicely groomed. These steps made it easy! There were a lot of trail signs but a map would have been nice. There are several ways up and down.
Looking up at the radio towers you can see the steep approach trail, the hardest part of the hike. In the distance is Mount Woodson and Iron Mountain. I'll take this hike again when the air is more clear.
Ancient hieroglyphs on the left and renowned Penn State anthropologist/explorer on the right.
Geocache: Chupy 3: Road Warrior Overlook, GC2C8
Found on June 4, 2001, on the north side of Black Mountain. This was my eighth find. Here are some photos.
On the left are the contents of the cache spread about, in the middle is a view looking toward 4S Ranch from the cache location and on the right is yours truly posing with the top of the cache. Below is a thumbnail of my GPS track of the hike. The file is about 260 kb, so be patient if you decide to look at it.
Geocache: Black Mountain Summit, GC1B15
October 3, 2001
This one was placed on September 4, 2001, near the very top of Black Mountain.
Another nicely placed Geocache by "Tuna". I took a million dollar bill from it and left a mini Coleman lantern key chain. The day was kind of hazy so i didn't take too many photos.
