Distance: 2.8 miles round trip on trail, use trail, and cross county
Summit Elevation: 2455'
Elevation Gain: 850'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.7
Round trip time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Recommended water: 32 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Ellie Lane Trailhead (highway 67)
Difficulty: Easy
Mount Ellie is a small peak in Poway next to North Iron Mountain. I missed it the last time I was in the area so this was a cleanup mission. I parked at the Ellie Lane trailhead and followed the trail up to the saddle between Ellie and North Iron. I expected a moderate bushwhack from the saddle and started off where I thought it would be shortest. Most of the brush was waist high and generally thinner than it looked. More than half way up, I ran into what looked like a cut use trail. I followed it a short distance but it looked like it was skirting below the summit so I quickly resumed my direct attack. The summit had a couple of short boulder piles and a register in a plastic jar covered with a rock. There were not many signatures in the collection of pages. Someone included a stat sheet of all the Poway mountains showing Ellie as the 8th highest. The cut use trail was at the summit so I decided to follow it down as far as possible. It dropped quickly, then bent right and came out on a trail just past the saddle area. It's much better taking the cut trail so you don't have to look out as much for snakes. After Ellie, I headed a couple miles up highway 67 to the west side of Woodson Mountain to scout out some of the popular boulders and trad routes.
Ellie directly ahead
Where I started the bushwhack
North Iron from Ellie
Iron Mountain (left) from Ellie
Register jar
Zoom to Woodson
Looking down at the parking area and highway 67
Start of the cut use trail, a better way up
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