Mt. Woodson from Lake Poway
You have to go to beautiful Lake Poway to get to the trail head for Mt. Woodson. Of course you can always walk up the paved road from Route 67 to the top of Mt. Woodson, but that's cheating. The Mt. Woodson trail is not as well-maintained as the Iron Mountain trail and the upper parts are a little more strenuous. The tradeoff is that nobody's there! On my many hikes up the mountain, once I left the trail that circles Lake Poway, I've seen very few people. There are a couple ways up, the Fry/Koegel Trail and the Mt. Woodson Trail. Once you get to the top there is more room to roam than Iron Mountain and there are more views. The drawback is that if you are allergic to microwave transmission towers, you will probably croak.
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.
Mount Woodson Photos
These were taken on two different occasions and are in no particular order. Click on the thumbnails to view 640 x 480 versions.
L to R: Looking back at Lake Poway near the start of the trail, looking up at the transmission towers from close to the top, and an informative sign (not!) missing mileage and altitude.
L to R: This rock looks like an eggshell with the thin crust toward the top, looking down on Mt. Woodson Estates with my shadow in the foreground, looking toward the City and Pt. Loma.
L to R: Looking south along Route 67, looking north toward lake Hodges (I think), looking south with the trail in the foreground and finally, me in front of an oak stand about halfway up.
On May 7, 2001, I again ascended the steep flanks of Mt. Woodson, this time with the added impetus of finding a Geocache called "Mountain of Moonlit Rocks", GC8D8. It was another beautiful San Diego day and my trusty Garmin III took me within a few small boulders of the cache. Here is a photo of me with the cache and a view of the top from a point very near where the cache is hidden. On the top of the cache box it says: "Geocache by Tuna, N 33~ 00.527', W 116~ 58.542'". On my hat it says: "Tommy Bahama - martinis & bikinis"
