4 min
Overview
Way out past Ramona in the San Diego County Estates neighborhood lies the Mt. Gower Open Space Preserve. This 1574 acre park preserves a chunk of the San Diego backcountry in a nearly pristine state, while offering some moderate to challenging hiking and peakbagging. The highlight of the preserve is a cluster of three summits, one of which is dubbed Mt. Gower. While the summits actually lie on Cleveland National Forest Land, the preserve is the best way to reach the peaks, which are accessible by some fun scrambling over large granite slabs. Aside from the peak, the main highlight of this trip is the large concentration of unusual rock formations at the upper elevations of the trail. Like most inland mountains, Mt. Gower features a large number of granite boulders. These boulders formed below the surface many millions of years ago, but as the land was uplifted and as the overlying soil eroded, the boulders became exposed. Years of weathering have sculpted the boulders into rounded forms, although many of Mt. Gower’s boulders take on more fantastic shapes. For instance, there is one set of boulders that look a bit like fangs, and there’s also Teepee Rock, which is formed by two separate rocks propped against each other. And, of course, there are numerous huge granite slabs near the summit that recall some of the larger slabs in sunny sections of the Sierra Nevada forest. The trail starts out from the trailhead at the end of Gunn Stage Road. The initial stretch climbs across a chaparral-studded slope to a T-junction with the main preserve trail. The trail leading off to the left travels to a view point on the west end of the preserve. The trail you want goes right and heads toward the summit, as well as to two other optional viewpoints from which to enjoy the scenery. The first viewpoint is a good option to turn back for those who are not interested in going all the way to the summit. The trail will continue to undulate with a decidedly uphill trend until it bears right at a ridge. This ridge is the western wall
Trail Stats
14.4 km
518 m
945 m
480 m
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