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A steep climb up a radio tower service road.


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Map Key

2.1

Miles

3.3

KM

Point to Point

2,847' 868 m

High

1,693' 516 m

Low

1,154' 352 m

Up

75' 23 m

Down

11%

Avg Grade (6°)

20%

Max Grade (11°)

Dogs Leashed

Features Views

Description

This is the short, steep way to Mt. Woodson along a road that is closed to all vehicular traffic except as required for the maintenance of the radio equipment at the top.

The first 0.2 miles can be traversed in multiple ways, on road or trail. From here follow the road straight up another 1.9 miles, passing a water storage container at 0.55 miles.

This hike is a good workout even though you are on a paved surface. Once a group of mountain bikers passed by, well, all but one. The last guy and me were neck and neck at the water container. I thought to myself, I could hike 10% faster. I kicked it up a notch, slowly dropping the guy, and beat him to the top.

It's always tempting to go down the Mt. Woodson Trail a bit on the other side but if you want to go the whole way, you should setup a car shuttle unless you are in quite good shape and have gotten an early start for the round-trip hike.

This is also the shortest way to get to Potato Chip Rock, the other one being the Lake Poway Trail that is almost double the distance.

Contacts

Shared By:

Matthew Kidd with improvements by Samantha Shieh

Trail Ratings

  3.6 from 13 votes

#11600

Overall
  3.6 from 13 votes
5 Star
23%
4 Star
23%
3 Star
46%
2 Star
8%
1 Star
0%
Trail Rankings

#1,113

in California

#11,600

Overall
12 Views Last Month
1,059 Since Apr 25, 2017
Intermediate/Difficult Intermediate/Difficult

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43%
14%
36%
7%

Photos

Looking towards Iron Mountain from Mount Woodson Trail.
Sep 27, 2024 near San Pas…, CA
View from the summit of Mount Woodson
Jan 2, 2018 near Poway, CA
Quick stop on the way to the top!
Nov 19, 2017 near San Pas…, CA
Negotiating the bolders
Nov 19, 2017 near San Pas…, CA
Exploring Potato Chip Rock.
Oct 27, 2016 near Poway, CA
Potato Chip Rock (without people, for once)
Jan 2, 2018 near Poway, CA

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Check-Ins

Jun 5, 2023
Kyoko Ishikawa
2h 40m
Dec 6, 2022
Jeremy R
Nov 12, 2022
Mc Li
Jun 18, 2022
Mc Li
Jun 7, 2021
Miguel M
2.1mi — 1h 30m
Nov 11, 2020
Marcos Frias
Aug 8, 2020
Kayla S
Death. Go in the early morning. 3.9mi — 1h 44m
Feb 2, 2020
Lian Zhu
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