Best of 2003: Best Rock Climbing

Mount Woodson
Highway 67, 3 miles north of Poway Road

Mount Woodson is a boulder-studded promontory rising between Poway and Ramona. Weathering and erosion have worked their will on the mountain's tough granodiorite bedrock, carving stone phalluses, chipping away at hairline cracks, and smoothing rough edges into rounded forms. The more attractive rock surfaces have been adorned by climbers' chalk; the thicker the chalk the more popular the climb. You can be a participant or a voyeur. Much of the action takes place alongside the 1.7-mile paved pathway rising up the mountain's east flank, starting near the fire station on Highway 67.