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.