Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Iron Mountain's Ellie Lane Loop Trail

Iron Mountain Ellie Lane Trail
Iron Mountain Ellie Lane Trail

If you happen to drive up for a hike to Iron Mountain and find the trailhead parking lot looking like Qualcomm Stadium on a day when the Chargers are playing the Raiders, don’t lose heart. There is a nearby alternative — the Ellie Lane Trail. It is another way to hike to Iron Mountain, but it also offers a loop hike with almost the same challenges and scenery as the hike up Iron Mountain. Although you are unlikely to find solitude here, the parking lot and most of the route is less crowded.

In the first mile, the trail takes goes up a hillside littered with huge, weathered granite boulders that will remind you of Mt. Woodson, which looms to the north. As you near the top of a ridge, there is a feature known as Table Rock, which looks like a stone table. Here is an excellent view of the ocean on a clear day.

Sponsored
Sponsored

From Table Rock, follow the signed Ellie Lane Trail in a southerly direction for another mile. Although the trail is reasonably well marked and maintained, some of the signs have disappeared. This is not usually a problem except at the unmarked junction of the Ellie Lane and Wild Horse trails, 2.0 miles from the staging area. If you go right, down the canyon, you will have taken the Wild Horse Trail, and you end up back at the Ellie Lane staging area, having hiked only about half the loop. The Ellie Lane Trail goes to the left, up the hill via a series of switchbacks to a saddle from which you overlook the Ramona area to the east as well as the ocean to the west. The saddle is at an elevation of 2475 ft, only 200 feet lower than Iron Mountain itself. From here, the Ellie Lane Trail leads down an east-facing slope and ends 3.3 miles from the Ellie Lane staging area as it joins the Iron Mountain Trail coming up from the Iron Mountain staging area.

At this point, you could hike up to Iron Mountain, which is slightly less than a mile and a half away, but up and back will add nearly 3 miles to your hike. Instead, go 1 mile down the Iron Mountain Trail, toward the Hwy 67 staging area, but before you get there, look for another trail going off to the right (north) that goes back to the Ellie Lane staging area and your car. As you will discover, this is a branch of the Wild Horse Trail.

Distance from downtown San Diego: 32 miles. Allow 40 minutes. Take SR-163 north and turn east on I-8. Drive east on I-8 to the turnoff north to Hwy 67 in El Cajon. Drive 13.5 miles north on Hwy 67. Look for the parking area on the east side of the highway that is just a half-mile north of the Poway Rd. traffic light — instead of the intersection entrance to the main Iron Mountain trailhead parking.

Hiking length: Almost 6 miles on a loop trail. Difficulty: Moderately strenuous to strenuous with about 1600 feet of elevation gain. No facilities. Bring ample water for the hike.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mid-range fleet scoring bluefin limits off Ensenada

Rockfish to open at all depths April 1st (no foolin’)
Next Article

Looking back at race relations in Coronado

A former football player recalls the good and the bad
Iron Mountain Ellie Lane Trail
Iron Mountain Ellie Lane Trail

If you happen to drive up for a hike to Iron Mountain and find the trailhead parking lot looking like Qualcomm Stadium on a day when the Chargers are playing the Raiders, don’t lose heart. There is a nearby alternative — the Ellie Lane Trail. It is another way to hike to Iron Mountain, but it also offers a loop hike with almost the same challenges and scenery as the hike up Iron Mountain. Although you are unlikely to find solitude here, the parking lot and most of the route is less crowded.

In the first mile, the trail takes goes up a hillside littered with huge, weathered granite boulders that will remind you of Mt. Woodson, which looms to the north. As you near the top of a ridge, there is a feature known as Table Rock, which looks like a stone table. Here is an excellent view of the ocean on a clear day.

Sponsored
Sponsored

From Table Rock, follow the signed Ellie Lane Trail in a southerly direction for another mile. Although the trail is reasonably well marked and maintained, some of the signs have disappeared. This is not usually a problem except at the unmarked junction of the Ellie Lane and Wild Horse trails, 2.0 miles from the staging area. If you go right, down the canyon, you will have taken the Wild Horse Trail, and you end up back at the Ellie Lane staging area, having hiked only about half the loop. The Ellie Lane Trail goes to the left, up the hill via a series of switchbacks to a saddle from which you overlook the Ramona area to the east as well as the ocean to the west. The saddle is at an elevation of 2475 ft, only 200 feet lower than Iron Mountain itself. From here, the Ellie Lane Trail leads down an east-facing slope and ends 3.3 miles from the Ellie Lane staging area as it joins the Iron Mountain Trail coming up from the Iron Mountain staging area.

At this point, you could hike up to Iron Mountain, which is slightly less than a mile and a half away, but up and back will add nearly 3 miles to your hike. Instead, go 1 mile down the Iron Mountain Trail, toward the Hwy 67 staging area, but before you get there, look for another trail going off to the right (north) that goes back to the Ellie Lane staging area and your car. As you will discover, this is a branch of the Wild Horse Trail.

Distance from downtown San Diego: 32 miles. Allow 40 minutes. Take SR-163 north and turn east on I-8. Drive east on I-8 to the turnoff north to Hwy 67 in El Cajon. Drive 13.5 miles north on Hwy 67. Look for the parking area on the east side of the highway that is just a half-mile north of the Poway Rd. traffic light — instead of the intersection entrance to the main Iron Mountain trailhead parking.

Hiking length: Almost 6 miles on a loop trail. Difficulty: Moderately strenuous to strenuous with about 1600 feet of elevation gain. No facilities. Bring ample water for the hike.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Taco Taco Poway still has 99-cent fish tacos

Tacotopia prizewinner is well known among Powegians
Next Article

Why Unified® Review: What To Expect Dropshipping (Positive & Negative)

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.