Black Mountain - Nighthawk Trail

I realized, living in San Diego that I can access a public park with an accompanying hiking trail within 10 minutes drive from Downtown San Diego or wherever part of the City you live in.

Be it a hiking trail along the Beach such as Torrey Pines Trail, or the Mountains as far away as El Cajon, to Escondido, or Peaks along San Marcos- San Elijo - Vista, a combination of Trails are out there for enjoying. Just take out your running shoes, hiking shoes, hiking poles, a decent and wide brimmed hat, and adequate water, set aside a couple hours of your busy schedule and you're all set.

Anyway, I joined the Hiking for Fun in San Diego Meetup Group for a four mile hike to the peak of Black Mountain in Penasquitos. We took the Nighthawk Trail whose Trail head starts from Hilltop Park.

Its a good cardiovascular workout after spending all day at work.

Difficulty level: moderate
Elevation Gain: 800 feet
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 2 hours

Trail head:
Hilltop Park
9711 Oviedo Way
San Diego, California 92129

Trail head GPS Coordinates:
N 32 degrees 45 minutes 26.703 seconds
W 117 degrees 12 minutes 22.747 seconds

Directions to reach the Trail head:

1. Take Interstate 1-15
2. Head West on Freeway 56 Ted Williams Parkway
3. Exit Rancho Penasquitos Blvd. and head North x 1 mile
4. Turn right to Black Mountain Road x 0.4 miles
5. Turn right onto Oviendo Street x 0.2 miles
6. Turn right onto Oviedo Way x 0.5 miles
7. Park in Hilltop Park parking lot

The Trail:
Catch the Nighthawk Trail from Hilltop Park parking lot. Trail immediately follows a steep grade hiking trail through chaparral and coastal sage scrub up to the peak of Black Mountain . Trail is shared with Mountain Bikers so watch out for mountain bikers riding the rough trail downwards returning to the trailhead.

Click on image below to view a larger version of trail map. Follow the yellow line as shown in trail map below.


Click on the image to view my pictures of the trail.

Iron Mountain Hike

September 4, 2014

I joined the Hike For Fun San Diego Meetup Group for a two hour hike to Iron Mountain at Poway California after a busy day at work. I was late by 15 minutes to catch up with the group as I was stuck in afternoon rush hour traffic coming from Point Loma headed towards Poway on the 163rd and 15th Freeways,

This hike is also featured as Hike # 16 Iron Mountain in Henry Schad's 50 best Short Hikes San Diego book published by Wilderness Press.

This Out-and-back type hike is a good cardiovascular workout type as it climbs 1085 feet from the Parking lot by the time you reach the peak of Iron Mountain. Atop Iron Mountain, it affords a 360 view of much of San Diego County from the Pacific Ocean, Point Loma, Palomar Mountain and its Telescopes, San Clemente island and Mexico.

If the hiker wanted to add more distance , then an alternate return route is available (see Map) which adds an additional 3 miles, be cautious however of steep turns, climbs and drops which increases the difficulty level of this hike.

Time: 2 hours
Distance: 6 miles, more if alternate route is taken on return leg
Terrain: steep terrain with a 1085 Feet elevation gain.
Gear: Hiking shoes preferred, water

See Map below for Trail's route. Click on the image to view a larger version of Map.

Getting to the Trailhead:

There are multiple routes to the trailhead depending on where you are coming from.

Coming in from the North

From Rancho Bernardo Road and I-15: Head east; RB Road turns into Espola. When road ends, turn left (east) onto Poway Road. When it ends you are there.

Alternate Route

Take I-15 south to the Poway Road exit and then drive East till the road ends.

From the South

Take I-15 to the Scripps-Poway Parkway / Mercy Road exit and then drive east til the road ends. Turn left and the parking lot is on the right at the first stoplight.

As I hiked this trail on a late afternoon and alone, I didn't have the chance to take pictures. I'll do a repeat hike of this trail, by taking the longer route and take pictures next time.

Double Peak Trail Hike

Monday, September 1, 2014, I took Trevor and joined the Hike Mania San Diego Meetup Group to hike the Double Peak Trail in San Marcos California. This is an out-and-back hike which starts at the parking lot of Discovery Lake in San Marcos California. The trail starts out on an asphalt road and through residential area for about half a mile and turns into a gravel path and enters through burnt chaparral as a result of the severe Santa Ana Wind conditions and a heat wave of May 2014 throughout the San Diego County. The trail goes through steep grade gravel trail which has an elevation grade of 1000 feet in about two mile distance.

Time: 2.5 hours at moderate to fast pace hiking
Distance: 6 miles
Terrain: mostly steep trails with an elevation gain of about 1000 feet over a two mile distance.

Hiking gear: Running shoes or Hiking shoes, water

GETTING TO THE TRAILHEAD:

1. At San Marcos area, take the Freeway 78.
2. Exit South Twin Oaks Valley Road and head South x 0.8 miles.
3. Turn Right on Craven Road x 0.6 miles.
4. Turn left on Foxhall Drive x 0.4 miles
5. Enter the Discovery Lake Park and park your car.
6. Access the Trailhead and pursue Double Peak Trail.

Trailhead: Discovery Lake Park

Double Peak Hike Map

Click on the image below to view our Hike pictures.