Hike the Mount Woodson Trail to Potato Chip Rock

I listed this as "Intermediate/Advanced" skill level because while it's not a technically difficult hike, the elevation gain is unrelenting. Almost every single step is uphill and you feel like it'll never end once you get to the short switchbacks up the mountain. Add to this the sun and dry air and this is real workout. Only do this if you're in reasonably good shape.

To get to the trail head, you will park in the Poway Lake parking lot in (you guessed it) Poway, CA. Get here by taking Rt. 15 north from San Diego and then getting off at the Rancho Bernardo Road exit. Take this road for about 3 miles and then make a left on Lake Poway Road and you'll come to the parking lot.

The trail head starts right by the parking lot and the first part of the trail follows the border of the lake. Soon after you start, you will start with the hills. These are baby steps compared to what's ahead. If you don't have multiple bottles of water, turn back and get some. The trail is well-marked and hard to lose. It's mostly a dry dirt trail. Definitely wear sneakers.

You will be hiking uphill for a long time. Eventually you will reach a part where you can almost see the summit of Mount Woodson and you'll think, "Finally! We're almost there!" You're not almost there. The next part is the hardest. You'll spend about an hour (less if you're more fit) on short switchbacks all the way up to the summit. These are rocky and can be congested when a lot of people are doing the trail, and sometimes there's no spot to step to the side out of the way to take a breather. You're mostly stepping up rocks like stairs, so this is where you'll really need the water.

Once you finish the switchbacks, you'll have a little more uphill hiking to do before getting to Potato Chip Rock. You can't miss it because it's very distinctive, right off the trail, and because there will likely be a line of people waiting to take their pictures on top of it. If you walk past Potato Chip Rock for another 0.2mi, you'll reach the actual summit of Mount Woodson. After all the hiking you did to get here, you may want to just walk the extra 0.2mi to say you actually went to the summit. Or you can stop and take your picture on Potato Chip Rock. There are some large flat rocks near the summit that you can sit on to eat and recharge while appreciating the nice view.

In order to get on top of Potato Chip Rock, you'll have to do a little rock climbing. Someone will usually help you up if you're having trouble. Getting down is a little more difficult, as there's a steep rock slide you pretty much have to jump to and then slide down. Careful you don't scrape up your legs.

Once you've had your fill up here, you'll be going back the way you came to get back down. This seems like the easy part, but it's killer on your quads, knees, and your poor toes getting shoved against the front of your sneakers.

Total Distance: 6.0mi round trip

Total Time: 6 hours, including almost an hour at the top and extra time for struggling up the switchbacks