Iron Mountain Trail
The trail head for Iron Mountain is located at the intersection of Route 67 and Poway Road. There is another trail head at Ellie Lane and Route 67, but I haven't used that one. It's a nicely maintained trail and pretty popular. Even on a Monday morning in November you'll run into a few hardy souls out there, and a dog or two. There is a picnic table at the top of the mountain and a mailbox which contains a bunch of notebooks which people have signed and left little greetings or notes, love letters, a little pornography, stuff like that. Once you make it to the top, you can go back the way you came or you can take a more roundabout return trip which adds about 3 miles to the hike.
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.
Iron Mountain Trail Photos
Click on these thumbnail to see 640 x 480 versions. These photos were taken at various times during my trips up Iron Mountain, the most recent photos being December 18, when the Santa Ana winds nearly blew me out to the ocean.
L to R: At the trail head (the peak on the right is Iron Mountain), looking up the trail from the trail head, looking down along Route 67
L to R: Poway Road & Route 67, Jack & the mailbox at the top, the mail box and the telescope at the top
L to R: Looking toward Mount Woodson, looking toward Black Mountain, looking toward Jack and the picnic table at the top
L to R: a series of cloudy day photos
These are from the December 18th hike. Because of the Santa Ana, I thought it would be very clear, but it wasn't. L to R: Looking down 67 and Scripps Poway Parkway, looking toward Black Mountain, Jack squatting down.