Poway Peakbagging

Peaks: Iron Mountain North, Mount Ellie, Ramona Overlook Peak, Iron Mountain

December 2025

We had been hanging out in San Diego for several days and I was getting antsy. So I decided to find some local peaks to scramble. Bad weather prevented me from doing a more strenuous hike to some DPS peaks, so I settled for a four peak linkup in Poway. Stav and Bob Burd had each done a few of these peaks and so I had some good intel going into the hike.

It was threatening to rain all day so I got a pre-dawn start and headed straight to Iron Mountain North. It allegedly had a pretty dicey class five scramble to the top so I wanted to get it out the way. A great trail led all the way to the foot of the summit and from there I carefully picked my way up the last eighty or so feet of climbing. I brought my climbing shoes to help my changes getting to the peak. I followed Bob Burd’s beta to the T: using the Oak Tree as aid to get onto the rock, doing some “easy” lieback moves which I opted to crack climb instead, hit a short traverse, and then slab climbed up forty or so feet of low class five rock. It certainly got my heart rate up and I was extremely pleased to be back on solid ground after making my ascent. 
I threw on my running shoes, elated to be back on easy trail, and jogged towards Mount Ellie, an easy but still beautiful little peak. From there it was another mile or two on easy trail to the summit of Ramona Overlook Peak. That summit offered wonderful views to the east. I ate some chocolate and powered on to my fourth and final summit of the day, Iron Mountain. Up until this point I had only seen a couple of hikers, but once I neared Iron Mountain, they started materializing in droves. I reached the crowded summit and didn’t linger for long. I trotted back to the car, completing my loop in less than three hours. It was an excellent way to spend a cloudy morning.