Mt. Woodson President's Day Hike

I thought it would be a perfect day for a hike. The storm was over, the clouds had parted and the mountains were covered in snow. Assuming that Iron Mt. would be too busy due to the President's Day holiday, I chose to hike Mt. Woodson from Lake Poway for the first time since last June.

I arrived at the parking lot at 10 AM and was surprised to find it mostly empty. Seems that the local schools didn't have the day off, so there were fewer people out than I expected. Also, it was warmer than expected. Even though it may have been "only" 60 degrees, I didn't need a jacket, just my hiking pants and short sleeve shirt.

I might have started hiking too fast, because I quickly ran out of breath (as the expression goes), but that didn't slow me down. I passed everyone on the trail. Everyone including two ladies with three dogs (not on leashes), a father, son, grandfather trio, and a man with a mustache.

I wasn't in a hurry, so I stopped as often as I needed to take photos of the surrounding snow-covered mountains, blue lakes and green valleys. I did take a break at the "shady tree" to eat a protein bar, rest and stretch my leg muscles. While there a couple passed by and asked how much further to the top. I told them about 30 minutes, which later turned out to be way off, as I encountered them on my hike down as they were still headed up. They too had a dog, so they must have taken more breaks, or got lost because I never passed them again on the way up.

Once I got to the summit, I took a short detour down the other side just far enough so I could get a good view of the mountains in the east which also had lots of snow. I then took about a ten minute break to eat, adjust my boots, check-in on Foursquare and upload a photo to Facebook. It had taken me just over 90 minutes to hike to the top, but I knew I'd get back faster as I planned to not stop on the way down, and not stop I did. Along the way I encountered almost all the people who I passed on the way up, some were still hiking up, others must have turned around before summiting. There were also lots more people, most young people, hiking up as it was now afternoon.

I got back to my car about 1 PM, so the total hike time was three hours, just as I had estimated. I was prepared this time to not get blisters by putting blister pads on my toes before hiking. I was a little sore and tired, but nothing that an afternoon nap and good night's sleep can't cure. If it is not raining this weekend, another hike would be fun, and they expect the snow level to get even lower. How cool would it be to have it snow on me at the top of Mt. Woodson?