So I just drove down to the El Cajon area after a work offsite in LA, with the hope of hiking Cuyamaca and Corte Madera this weekend. The gods had other ideas — Cuyamaca is VERY snowy at the summit and apparently so is Corte Madera despite its lower elevation. There were warnings from hikers on both peaks’ AllTrails pages encouraging other hikers to reconsider *or* to avoid hiking solo. Well, I’m solo, so this struck me as maybe not so safe.

Thankfully, Woodson Mountain near Poway was listed as an alternative, and the peak is just shy of 3000’ so it was snow free. I also opted for the trail on the back of the mountain, which avoids Potato Chip Rock — I did not have much interest in dodging Instagrammers. The back trail is actually a fire road, which made it a bit dull (it’s paved) but also meant for a great workout of pretty much steady uphill. Also, even though it was the less popular route to the summit, it was still extremely popular.

The views were great! You could even see Cuyamaca, which was clearly VERY snowy near the summit. That one will probably have to wait until May for me. In the meantime, I’m going to try to do a lower-elevation, non-Six-Pack hike for my second day here (I fly home Sunday) and keep up the Peloton workouts in the meantime. Can’t wait to return for superbloom season later this month!