This was a pleasant hike that was north of the more famous Mount Woodson Trail (aka Potato Chip…read moreRock) in Poway. You can actually choose your own adventure about 0.6 mile in with a less strenuous trek that headed south to Lake Poway or a tougher path east and then north that ascended to Lake Ramona. I chose the latter as it was only a round trip of about five miles. There were several switchbacks during the climb towards the summit. The hardest part came just short of Lake Ramona when the dirt became a black top pavement. The footing became better, but the steepness and stiff, swirling breezes made it a challenge. Once you reached the top, the reward was a beautiful view of the lake. There were a few folks who had arrived earlier, and they were armed with fishing poles. I had no idea how they were going to cast their lines because large boulders blocked the way down to the water. It took me exactly two hours from start to finish which included a little rest time at the peak to appreciate the view of the serene water. A bonus of the Blue Sky Ecological Reserve was that the parking lot at the trailhead was very well maintained. If this trail was longer, then I likely would have rated it with five stars.

Great spot for a peaceful hike. There are plenty of trails to explore. We ended up doing a 2-mile…read moreloop. The path has informative placards throughout, and I loved all the beautiful greenery along the way. There's a large parking lot nearby, and it wasn't crowded. We only saw a few other hikers. A lovely place to get outside and enjoy nature.

If you're thinking about hiking Mount Woodson trail aka the famous Potato Chip Rock--just know…read more.. your legs are about to file a formal complaint. This hike is a little over 7 miles (round trip) and definitely on the "hard but worth it" side, with steady climbs, and rocky steps that will have you questioning "who's idea was this?" For trail details, I'd suggest checking out Alltrails before you go. Things to know: the trailhead starts at Lake Poway Recreation Area and there's a $10 entrance fee. Weather can be unpredictable--our hike started wet and ended sunny, so dress smart. Bring plenty of water, good shoes with traction, and a snack to reward yourself at the top (you earned it). The trail is fairly well marked, but pro tip: take pics at each fork unless you enjoy "bonus miles" on the way down. At the summit, expect a line to snap that iconic photo. And yes--you'll need to do a tiny "jump" onto the rock... which suddenly turns very intimidating when it's your turn. Some people bail, but it's totally doable. Challenging, a little chaotic, and 100% one of my favorite hikes. Your calves won't forgive you--but your camera roll will.

I know this trail as potato chip rock!…read more We started the hike at 730am, ended at 11 All incline! There are a couple portable bathrooms along the trail. Beautiful view of the lake. Beautiful view of all SD on a clear day! Once you make it to the top you can take a picture on the chip! It's a little scary, but worth it just to say you did it! There's a 10 dollar parking fee. Bathrooms are clean. It's a very diverse park with lots to do!

Peaceful in the morning, fun and happening places during the day in the weekend. You can go hike in…read moremany different directions. Potato chip is a famous hike you can take from here. Staff is super friendly and helpful.

I came here awhile back to hike up to Potato Chip Rock as everyone was telling me I should do this…read morehike, so I did. Hike took me a few hours and definitely got a nice workout. Everybody and their grandma knows about Potato Chip Rock so lots of people wanting their photo on the Rock, but I was too impatient and didnt feel like waiting or socialize, so I just hiked there, saw it and came back down. I love this park, the lake is very pretty and soothing to see waterfowl and people enjoying the water. I decided to bike here today and its close to 7 miles away, 15 min by car, and about 40 min by bike. The bike ride is a workout as there are hills both ways, so be prepared for that. I havent biked in awhile but planning to get back into it, so took my MTB out for a spin and it def needs a tune up. I stopped by the lake and sat at some picnic tables that were shaded and had a nice view of the lake and the Lookout Restaurant and got to see a lot of birds too. Was so nice to be able to spend a weekend afternoon here, it was exactly what my soul & body was yearning for! On the weekends, there is a $10 parking fee, and free for Poway residents. I think on the weekdays there is no parking fee. I don't recall paying when I hiked Potato Chip Rock and it was a weekday during the holidays. I was on bike so no fee either. Ill keep this place in mind if I wanna do a 10K run and back next time, people on foot also free. A really nice local lake to get a bit of nature in! I will be back over & over again!

Went on a morning hike with friends. There's a small parking lot, and the trail we took along the…read morelake was flat and easy. The scenery was nice, and we came across both hikers and bikers along the way.

Excellent place to go hiking. It's hard to go wrong with any trail that loops around the lake with…read moremagnificent views. Out of all the trails, I highly recommend Fletcher Point: https://hiddensandiego.com/things-to-do/places/fletcher-point Fletcher Point takes you across a peninsula with excellent views. 10/10 would recommend.

What a gorgeous area to hike. It is so beautiful, and you see cows, horses, and other animals along…read morethe way. The trail is very popular and often busy but worth the visit. Parking is available on site, as is a portable restroom at the trailhead. We visited this site almost every day as it's a good way to start the day. Highly recommended.

This is an absolutely lovely place to hike. Actually we came out for more of a leisurely walk, just…read moreto enjoy some fresh air on and unseasonably warm winter day. I don't have much to say that others have not, but here are a few pictures. Definitely worth a visit!

The hike is brutal. The trailhead says 2.2 miles to the infamous Potato Chip Rock, but my watch…read moreclocked 1.9. And no, I didn't take any short cuts as there are no short cuts to take. This is a switchback hike to the summit, but at least it's paved. The parking at the base may seem a little sketchy, and it is. If you can't nab one of the 5 or so dirt spaces right in front of the trailhead entrance you basically have to park on the side of the road with cars flying by at 60+ mph. Bring lots of water. You'll need it, especially on a hot, dry summer day. But also be careful how much you drink. There are no bathrooms on the trail. When you reach the summit, stay right past all the sketchy buildings that leave you feeling like you're in a 1990s Bond film. The Potato Chip is about another 1/4 mile to the right. If you're brave enough to climb on top of it, it takes some maneuvering. I was not. There's a clearly visible crack in the rock. It looks like it's ready to fall downhill any day now - hopefully with nobody on it.

Having hiked the traditional route to the summit of Mount Woodson a few times, I decided to try the…read moreeastern ascent starting from Hwy 67 in Ramona. It's actually a paved service road. The distance was about 60% of the length with 1/3 more steepness than the western climb. You park your vehicle on the shoulder of the highway and then walk through a short dirt path before hitting the asphalt. There were numerous curves and turns, but your calves will definitely feel a burn as the elevation change was about 1200 feet over two miles. Watch out for the numerous potholes on the pavement. No body of water was visible on this route like when you walk around Lake Poway starting from that trailhead. Lots of rock formations and boulders dotted the side of the trail before you reached the top. After walking near all the radio and cell phone towers, I arrived at Potato Chip Rock. On the day I went, there were only two groups of hikers in front of me snapping photos and scaling on to the Chip. In the past, I have seen queues of 30-60 minutes to get an opportunity to climb on the rock and to snap pictures for social media postings of this famous local landmark. The time it takes to finish the ascent from this side can range from 45 minutes to an hour depending on how many breaks you take to catch your breath and rest. Therefore, the round trip up and down can be accomplished in less than two hours. That provided a great cardio workout over a total distance of 4.1 miles. I gave this backside trek to Potato Chip Rock a four star rating.

This trailhead is located about a mile further north along Hwy 67 from the main staging area where…read morepretty much everyone starts their hike of Iron Mountain. That route is about a six-mile round trip whereas starting from this point makes the trek about 50% harder and longer. The parking lot was located across from a few houses along Ellie Lane, hence the trail name. Only three other vehicles were parked when I arrived. You start off pretty flat along the property line of these houses, but as you continue eastward and then veer north to begin the loop, the route becomes narrower, rockier, and steeper. The terrain was not for beginners. I only saw three sets of hikers during this part of my journey so it was definitely more isolating than the regular Iron Mountain trail. I didn't make a stop at Table Rock, but there were a few spots where you could get great photos of the boulders on the mountainside like when hiking Mt. Woodson. Ramona Viewpoint was another place where you could pause to admire the view of the landscape to the east. The trail had enough twists and climbing that the roughly three miles before reaching the junction with the main path to the Iron Mountain summit was a solid cardio workout. The ascent to the top was about 1.5 miles further which I had done on a few occasions in the past. There were so many more people on this leg including a couple of fools who were wearing flip flops despite the semi-muddy conditions in some spots. On the way back, you make a right turn northward about 1/4 mile before the main staging area to take the western portion of the Wild Horse Trail Loop back to the Ellie Lane trailhead. I really enjoyed the additional challenge and length of this trail. It felt like two hikes for the effort of one. I completed the circuit of nearly nine miles in about 3.5 hours. If there was a drawback, then it would be the lack of more trail markers. I made a couple of wrong turns and had to retrace my steps to stay on track according to the hiking app I was using. I would rate the difficulty level as moderate to hard.

After spending the better part of the morning coming up with new and creative ways to say "No!" to…read morea Carlsbad timeshare peddler, Mrs. Picante and I really wanted to take a long hike, preferably away from hoards of people. We've all seen the photos of fellow Yelpers posing on Potato Chip Rock, but several reviews referred to how crowded the hike was. Since we were leaving at 11:00 AM, we saw that trailhead from the highway, but passed on it, having read that the Ellie Lane trail--the "secret backway" to the Iron Mountain trail, had a lot fewer people. Parking in the small free lot, we saw only three other cars.... definitely a contrast to the Potato Chip trailhead area and the Park N Ride south of Ellie Lane that also serves as staging for the Iron Mountain main trail. In summary: we were not disappointed! The hike starts relatively flat flanking a small ranch property and a few houses built into the hillside, but quickly turns into a zig-zagging scramble up a rocky trail through the aeons-old boulder field of the Poway hillsides. Recent rains had eroded the trail slightly in a few places, and the cool of December along with the sun tracking lower across the sky left the ground damp-- great, since it can get pretty hot and dusty here in the summer. Plenty of large boulder promontories presented photo ops with the ocean glimmering on the horizon... every bit as pretty as Potato Chip, though arguably not as unique as that eroded land feature. Steady uphill and a quick pace racing the sunset kept our hearts beating well. After a couple of miles, we came to Table Rock. Couldn't connect the drone, and probably not supposed to fly it here anyway, so we kept going. The trail got a little hard to find here, but we recovered it fairly quickly and kept moving towards Iron Mountain. A half mile of downhill brought us to a junction: right to head back towards the Park N Ride, and left to head up towards Iron Mountain. We opted for more uphill, and made it as far as the rock formation at the top, where a sign warns that raptor nesting in the rocks prohibits humans in the winter months. I assumed they didn't mean velociraptors; and besides, I like hawks and eagles and wouldn't want their little babies to jump off the nest ledge on my account. Besides, we were running out of daylight, and had to high tail it back down. On the way back we stayed in the main Iron Mountain trail until the last turn right back to Ellie Lane. We arrived with a little orange left in the sky, and only our truck in the lot. All told, we only passed two other hiking groups: a dad and his kids, and a lone fellow out exploring who was fresh in from Menlo Park. If you're looking for a fairly challenging hike, with plenty of photo ops on big granite boulders... and you'd rather not wait in line to take your picture on said rocks... this is a great place to enjoy some outside time!

I was pleasantly surprised to find this nice scenic hike so close to home and many of the places I…read moreoften visit. The hike is not a difficult one, but very convenient to get to and offers some great views of the Poway area as you get towards the summit. If you are a local to the area and looking for a quick hike, this might be a good one for you to try.