5 Best Dog Friendly Hiking Trails in San Diego

Hey, I'm Sebastian Frost. I've lived in San Diego for eleven years now, and for the last six of them I've shared a house, a truck, and basically every weekend with a German Shepherd named Koda. He's 85 pounds of opinions. He hates the vacuum, he loves the mail carrier for some reason, and he has never once said no to a trail. We've hiked a lot of dirt together. Some of it was great, some of it was a mistake (looking at you, that one August afternoon in Mission Trails with no shade). Over the years I've narrowed things down to ten trails we go back to again and again. Every one of these allows dogs, every one of these requires a leash, and every one of these has gotten the Koda stamp of approval, which usually means he fell asleep in the truck bed before we hit the freeway. Under each trail you'll find two photos. The first is the route on a map, with a link so you can pull it up on your phone. The second is just a shot I liked from the day. Let's get into it.

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Iron Mountain Trail, Poway

Link to this trails on the map.

If I could only pick one, this is it. The trailhead sits right at the corner of Highway 67 and Poway Road, with a free dirt lot and a vault toilet. From there it's about 3.2 miles to the top and 3.2 back, with a little over 1,000 feet of climbing. The summit tops out at 2,696 feet. The first stretch runs through a small grove of oaks, and I'm telling you now, that is the only shade you will see all day. After that it's open chaparral, a long straightaway with the mountain staring you down, then switchbacks that get rocky near the top. Koda handles the rock fine, but I check his pads at the summit every single time. On a clear winter morning you can pick out Catalina from the top. Bring more water than feels reasonable. I carry two liters for him alone.

Cowles Mountain, Mission Trails Regional Park

Link to this trail on the map.

Everybody in San Diego has done Cowles, and there's a reason for that. At 1,593 feet it's the highest point inside city limits, and from the top you get the ocean, downtown, Mexico on a good day, and the whole spread of Mission Trails behind you. The main trailhead is at Golfcrest Drive and Navajo Road in San Carlos. It's about 1.5 miles up, 950 feet of gain, with a lot of stone steps and a lot of people. Weekends before 9 a.m. the lot is already full and the trail looks like a conga line. Koda does not love the conga line. So here's my move. Park on Mesa Road in Santee instead and take the Big Rock Trail up the back side. It's a mile longer, way steeper in spots, and you'll pass maybe a dozen people instead of three hundred. Same summit, better mood.

Mt. Woodson from Lake Poway

Link to this trail on the map.

Yes, this is the Potato Chip Rock hike. No, I have never waited in that line, and Koda is not getting up on the chip. But strip the Instagram stuff away and you're left with one of the best workouts in the county. Start at Lake Poway, 14644 Lake Poway Road. Non-residents pay to park on weekends, so keep a ten in the glovebox. The trail wraps around the lake for about a mile, flat and pleasant, then turns right onto the Mt. Woodson Trail and basically goes straight up. Call it 7.5 miles round trip and right around 2,000 feet of gain, most of it packed into the middle three miles. The upper half winds through huge granite boulders that throw little pockets of shade, and there's a bench or two along the way. The summit has radio towers, which is not glamorous, but the view over Poway to the ocean makes up for it. Fall and winter only for us. Summer up there is brutal on a dog.

Los Peñasquitos Canyon to the Waterfall

Link to this trail on the map.

This one is flat, shady in stretches, and has water in it. For a German Shepherd in Southern California, that's the holy trinity. The preserve runs about seven miles end to end between Rancho Peñasquitos and Mira Mesa, roughly 4,000 acres of canyon with a creek down the middle. I usually park at the east end off Black Mountain Road near the old adobe ranch house and walk the North Main Trail west to the waterfall. That's about 3 miles each way on wide, mostly level dirt with sycamores and live oaks hanging over the path. The waterfall is honestly more of a creek tumbling over volcanic boulders, but after a wet winter it runs hard and Koda will stand belly deep in the pool for twenty minutes. Watch for mountain bikers, this is one of the busiest bike corridors in the city, and keep an eye on the creek edges for poison oak. It's everywhere down there.

Black Mountain via Miner's Ridge Loop

Link to this trail on the map.

Black Mountain is the one I do on a Tuesday after work when I need to burn off the day. It's a 2,352 acre city park up in Rancho Peñasquitos, and the summit at 1,554 feet gives you a full 360: ocean to the west, Palomar to the north, downtown off to the south. Most people drive to Hilltop Community Park and take the wide dirt service road straight up, about 2.5 miles. I like the north side better. Park at the Miner's Ridge trailhead off Black Mountain Road, loop over the ridge on the rocky singletrack with the little rock stair sections, then pick up the Nighthawk Trail to the top. All in it's about 4 miles and 750 feet of climbing. It's a mountain bike park first and a hiking park second, so keep the leash short on blind corners. The manzanita and black sage smell incredible after rain, and I've seen more coyotes here than anywhere else on this list. Koda is very interested in them. The feeling is not mutual.