CA - Mt. Woodson

California Winters might be my new favorite thing. 

Mt Woodson Trail - Ramona, CA

Don't get me wrong, I still love cold and snowy winters and I often miss the change of seasons too. But not having grey skies 300 days out of the year is a welcome change after 25 years.

It was in fact my first time celebrating Christmas outside of Portland, Oregon and although I missed my family dearly, Bryce and I did get to spent the day snuggled up together. Not that it gets below 65 degrees here or anything.

We ate and opened presents and ate some more and had a jolly ol Christmas. I may or may not have inhaled 6 (!) cinnamon rolls during all the eating. Which may not have been the best thing to fuel up with the day before hiking Mt. Woodson. Woops.

In an attempt to not be couch potatoes the entire holiday, Bryce and I shuffled out of bed the next day and drove out to Ramona, CA to make the trek up Mt. Woodson trail. The highlight of the trail is supposedly the famous Potato Chip Rock (spoiler: no pictures of the actual rock  - you'll see why if you keep reading.) Round trip the hike is about 4.1 miles and is fairly strenuous with lots of steep inclines.

So remember those 6 cinnamon rolls I ate the day before? Don't be like me. Don't eat 6 cinnamon rolls and then try to hike anything. Just don't.  I'd like to think I looked more graceful than a puffed up marshmallow rolling up the mountainside, but probably not. My legs were shaking by the time we got to the base of the trail. Yes, yes, technically you have to walk about 1.8 miles of rolling hills just to get to the starting line. 

Having lived in San Diego for a full decade now, Bryce has seen the rock and made this trek more than any other hike. Basically we went solely for my benefit - Thanks Love! He warned me there might be a line of people at the top taking pictures at the potato chip, but did I listen? Noo, of course not. We set out around 1:00pm in the afternoon and seemed to have the trail mostly to ourselves except for the people descending in the opposite direction. The entire climb we only encountered maybe 10 people heading in the same direction. A good sign I thought! *sigh*

To my utter shock, the second we rounded the last cutback to Potato Chip, I kid you not, a HOARD of people awaited us. Where on earth had all these people come from?? They were just camped out at the top of the mountain waiting to take a picture on top of the rock. No thank you. Sad as I was, I get it. Its a cool rock and its a cool photo opportunity. But no way was I going to wait in line, in a crowd of people, on top of a freaking mountain just for a picture. I came there to see the beautiful landscape and views not to wait in a line for an hour like it was some amusement park ride. Another day perhaps. 

We ended up spending all of 5 minutes at the top before heading back down to the solitude of the trail. All in all it was a lovely hike. That one bit of disappointment at the top did not overshadow the beautiful vistas we found along the way. I definitely recommend this trail, just make sure you time your trip better than we did!

Pro Tips:

• Bring water and plenty of it.
• Its free parking during the week but the gates close at 4:45pm, so make sure to get there in plenty of time. It took us about 2.5 hours roundtrip. 
• If you're lucky (unlike us) there won't be a line of 50 people at the top trying to take pictures of the potato chip. Best tip is to go during off peak hours - during the week and not near holidays. Otherwise plan accordingly for the added time. 

Hope everyone is having a lovely holiday! Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope you all have a wonderful New Year filled with friends, family, and new adventures. <3

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Cheers,

Kimmy