"Started the year with 3 peaks from the new San Diego Six Pack of Peaks Challenge. Excellent start to completing this challenge in 3 days. Todays combined numbers were 14.47 miles and 4,115 feet in elevation gain. In addition, all three of these peaks are a part of the San Diego 100 Peaks Challenge (Derek's List). My goal for the 100 peaks is to complete all 100 in 100 days. ;) " — Philip-Yoho • Jan 1, 2021

"Number 6 of round two was Mount Woodson aka Potato Chip Rock. We decided to take a different route this time, starting at the Blue Sky Ecological Preserve which added not only a few miles to the hike be some great scenic views of the lake and surrounding areas before starting the climb up to PCR. " — Philip-Yoho • Jun 20, 2020

"What a way to start 2020 off. My initial goal, with the addition of the 6 San Diego peaks to the SoCal Six Pack of Peaks Challenge was to be the first to finish the six new peaks and then be the first to finish all 18 Peaks (Original 6, Alternate 6, and the San Diego 6) of the SoCal Six Pack of Peaks Challenge. So, I started early on January 1 hiking up the back side (Ramona side) of Mount Woodson. Summited in the dark and then headed down back down. This was 4.16 miles and 1362 feet in total elevation gain. I then got in my car and drove 15 minutes to the El Cajon Mountain Trailhead and hiked the 11.61 miles and 4249 feet in elevation gain. One day 2 peaks done!" — Philip-Yoho • Jan 1, 2020

"From the service road steady incline up ask the way to the summit. Made the climb with my 3 yo daughter. If you're not aware of your child's limits, I would say don't be disappointed if they don't make it all the way up. We went very early, at the summit it was just a haze of fog. Nice without the heat and no line for potato chip rock pix, bad because we had no view " — spr_kween • Aug 25, 2018

"The Monday after Easter, I desperately needed a hike to unwind after a long holiday weekend at work, and due to the fact my work schedule does not allow me to hike as much as I used to (or need to for that matter). I wanted to visit the San Diego area, but had no idea where I wanted to hike. It took me until just before heading out to decide to finally visit Woodson. I was lucky to have a cool, overcast day as well, so this was a no-brainer after laboring over which peaks to climb that day! My friend Brett and I got a late start, arriving at the trailhead at 8am (late for us anyways!) We decided to hike from the beautiful, tree laced park at Lake Poway and take one of the longer ways to hike Woodson (the longest, I believe, is from Blue Sky Ecological Reserve). We hiked up from the park at the south and then east part of the lake to the Woodson Trail, and went up and up. We passed through some beautiful recovering chaparral communities (after the 2007 blazes), and saw a lot of Chaparral Whitethorn (Ceanothus leucodermis) in its hallogen blue haze of blooms making early April a great time to hike in the area. The trail is steep in areas, and climbs almost incessantly, but it..." — brianpowell • Apr 2, 2018

"Made it up in about one hour and 15 minutes. Nice hike… I recommend starting early to avoid the heat. The whole time I was thinking to myself how terrible this hike would be if it was over 75°." — kirbyhays • Nov 18, 2017

"This was a great hike with the family from the lake. It was still a warm day, so we started a bit early which was good so that we could avoid the crowds in line at potato chip rock! Still had to wait 20 minutes to take our pictures! ha! " — yosinalissebeck • Nov 15, 2015

"Third time is a charm they say. Great day hiking up to Potato chip Rock. Took the shorter less travelled route up from the Ramona side. Steeper but only about 2 miles to the summit." — Philip-Yoho • Nov 12, 2015

"My first summit of Mount Woodson (aka Potato Chip Rock). Climbed up via Lake Poway. I was one of the first three to summit for the day. I passed up the iconic rock and continued on to the actual summit. Took about a 30 minute break there. Then headed back to the iconic rock to take picture on top. However, by this time there were over 30 people standing in line to take a photo. Yeah, no thanks! So I headed down knowing that I would be back another day to capture the photo on Potato Chip Rock." — Philip-Yoho • Sep 12, 2015

"Hiked up with Heather and Robbin from Lake Poway. It was crowded near potato chip rock and someone had a red wagon with a stereo playing Christmas music. We were pleased to find that the highest boulder had a make shift ladder leading up a short class 3 scramble. There were 4 bench markers." — Gimpilator • Dec 21, 2014