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.