On Saturday January 9th my hiking buddy and I met off of High 67 to start the hike up to Mount Woodson aka Potato Chip Rock. We started out at around 7:30 am. It was 40 something degrees…very cold for me. As we left the Trail along the highway and started going uphill it got warm very quick. I had on a thin long sleeve spandex jacket which I had to quickly shed and underneath that a long sleeve spandex porous top.  I also brought along my old beatup Eddie Bauer backpack in which were my water bottle, snacks and other essentials like sanatized wipes, extra disposable face masks, sunscreen etc and a couple of doggy bags I used to collect my trash.

We basically went up a paved road. It was a relatively easy hike if you don't mind the steep inclines and didn't mind pulling over to catch your breath! I was huffing and puffing on the way up but at the same time (once I caught my breath) enjoyed some very awesome views of Poway and Ramona? ( I'm directionally challenged).

I also saw cool rock formations that I made note to try to climb on my way back down when I'm not hyperventilating.  Well not actually climb but just scramble a little to get a look at the views. There were actual climbers with rope,  helmet and other climbing tools I don't recognize as we made our way back down tbe trail.

I was a bit bummed that I could still hear traffic from the highway even after we've hiked over a mile or so. I was hoping to leave that behind once I started the hike.  I saw lots of foot traffic. Many if which didn't have face covering on. Oooh that was so aggravating for me!  Especially those folks that I consider middle age and older (as I'm speedily heading in that category myself) . I hope they stay healthy.

There were young children as well which was so great to see.  I have two young  boys myself and would love to have discovered the joy of hiking when they were younger but I didn't so now it's like pulling teeth to get them out.

As we got towards the halfway mark to the top we see the giant radio towers. The trail did not offer many switchbacks but I'm happy there were no stairs!!! How I've come to hate stairs on trails! Once we got to the top we found that the trail started going down. We followed the stream of hikers forming a line for pictures of the potato chip rock judding out.  It ook us about an hour to get to the top. I declined waiting in line as there were too many bodies huddled closely for my comfort. I did however had my buddy snap a shot of me in front of the chip.

After that I made my way back up the trail to rest on a flat rock overlooking Poway (and Ramona? -no idea but I think I spotted Lake Poway) as I waited for my friend to get a 100 more selfies and pictures and post to all her social media sites she has-lol. It's great! I took the time to  hydrate and snacked on my apple and Slim Jim's- great trail food by the way!!  Then I see my friend and we took turns taking each other's pictures away from the crowd. We had fun goofing off a little.

After about 15 minutes or so we headed back up to go down, down down. It was so much easier going back down even though some parts were very steep and I feel my knees and feet were now on fire.  This was when I really enjoyed the hike.  I found the rock I remembered I wanted to climb so I did that. Views were awesome even if it included the 67 traffic noise.

As we came down we see  steady foot traffic coming up and I was so glad I was not them!  I hear many people breathing very hard and mumbling under their breath.  I was smiling inside, quickly forgetting that that was me an hour ago!

I hear and see a lady talking to or training her dog very loudly in the middle of the trail.  I see another young boy under a tree yelling to his party ahead of him that he needs a break. Trail life! I loved every step of it.  We finished a little after 10. It was a sweet morning!

Cheers to all the hikers out there! Hike healthy, hike safe!!

Saboun