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    Mount Woodson Trail

    The Mount Woodson trail is a dog-friendly hike in Poway, CA. The trailhead is located on the east side of Lake Poway. The hike to the summit is considered extremely challenging as it contains a 2,000-foot climb in elevation. This eight-mile round-trip hike takes about 3 to 4 hours on average, so be sure to plan and pack accordingly. Fido must stay leashed while hiking. Visit Website

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    Reviews

    BringFido Guest Rating

    Mount Woodson Trail has received a rating of 4.5 out of 5 bones by 2 canine critics on BringFido.

    • Marc
      Nov. 30, 2018
      Mt Woodson hike is called the Potato Chip Rock hike by locals

      This is a great trail, though it offers very little shade -- so try to take your pooch on a cooler day.

      The current photo in BringFido is for a completely different trail in Poway (Iron Mountain); that is a good trail as well, but it is not Mount Woodson. . If you want to know all about the Mt Woodson trail, just do a Yelp of Potato Chip Rock (which is what locals refer to this hike as .... once you see the photos and description you'll know why).

      Some key things to note:
      If you hike from Lake Poway all the way to the base of the radio towers at the peak, that is roughly 4 miles (though many people turn around at Potato Chip Rock, which is close to but not at the absolute peak).

      NO trashcans at the top. The only trashcans that exist on the trail are in the vicinity of the picnic tables (located about 1.7 miles into the hike).

      Everyone wants to take a photo of themselves atop Potato Chip Rock. If you don't want to stand in line for 1+ hours to get that iconic photo of yourself, I'd recommend going on a Mon thru Fri during a non-Holiday week (Tue thru Thur have the least wait times, normally no longer than 5 minutes).

    • Joe
      More than a year ago
      Great trails

      Outstanding hiking area. Nice wide trails and lots of smells for our Great Dane. Most of the trails are covered with tree branches so the heat wasn't so bad. The only drawback is the amount of poison oak just off the trail.

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    We dug up 6 pictures of dogs at Mount Woodson Trail.

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    Mount Woodson Trail