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Running trails in Poway, CA
Poway has 18 trails in the directory — 3 paved and 6 on crushed gravel or dirt, 6 loops that return to the trailhead, 4 with a stated distance, 3 shaded, and 6 open 24 hours. 11 of them post opening hours, so you can check the gate before an early start. They're ranked here by rating weighted by review volume, across 5,801 Google reviews. Filter by surface, loop, distance, shade or lighting to get to the run you're actually planning — no made-up difficulty score, just the facts you'd check before driving out.
Iron Mountain Trailhead
4.8 ★★★★★ 1,712 reviews
Popular and dog-friendly trail leading to a summit featuring picnic tables and a telescope with scenic views.
Old Poway Park & Railroad
4.8 ★★★★★ 1,526 reviews
Bustling park offers a Saturday farmer’s market, vintage train rides, a museum & historic buildings.
Blue Sky Ecological Reserve
4.7 ★★★★★ 868 reviews
Wild 700-acre canyon habitat for myriad flora & fauna, with hiking trails & guided tours.
Mount Woodson Trailhead
4.7 ★★★★★ 831 reviews
Challenging 6.4-mile roundtrip hike offers unusual rock formations & views of downtown & the ocean.
Lake Poway Park
4.7 ★★★★★ 421 reviews
Park offering boating, hiking and playgrounds, plus a store selling food, snacks and fishing supplies, and boat rentals.
Ellie Lane Trailhead
4.7 ★★★★★ 92 reviews
Hilly and rocky hiking area with a trailhead for Iron Mountain that's known for its scenic views.
Sycamore Canyon Trail
4.6 ★★★★★ 92 reviews
This scenic trail offers a looped track & takes hikers through some wild land & a waterfall.
Van Dam Peak
4.6 ★★★★★ 83 reviews
Hiking area also popular for mountain biking, with reviews mentioning snakes.
Twin Peaks Trail Summit
4.8 ★★★★★ 46 reviews
Popular hiking area with well-maintained trails leading to a summit with panoramic views.
Lomas Verde Trail
4.4 ★★★★☆ 14 reviews
South Midland Rd hiking and biking trails
4.9 ★★★★★ 7 reviews
Treadwell Drive Trail
5 ★★★★★ 1 reviews
No trails match those filters.
How to pick a trail in Poway
- Match the surface to your legs. Poway gives you a choice: 6 natural surface, 3 paved, and 1 mixed. Asphalt and concrete are fast, predictable and runnable year-round but the least forgiving; crushed limestone and dirt take the sting out of high mileage; boardwalk is flat and scenic but slick in the wet. If your shins or knees are complaining, the fix that actually works is varying the surface you run on rather than chasing one "best" one. More natural surface trails →
- Loop or out-and-back? 6 trails here are loops, so you finish back at the car with no backtracking — the easiest way to run a set distance without thinking about it. On an out-and-back you turn round at half your target distance, which makes any trail fit any run. The longest stated distance in Poway is Blue Sky Ecological Reserve at 5 mi. 1 trail is long enough for a 5-mile-plus run without repeating yourself.
- Check the hours before a 6am run. 6 trails in Poway are open 24 hours — the rest can sit inside a park that gates at dusk and doesn't unlock until well after sunrise. 11 of the 18 listings carry posted opening hours — worth a look before you set an alarm.
- Long run? Check water and restrooms first. 11 have trailhead parking and 7 have restrooms in Poway. Anything over an hour and those stop being nice-to-haves — and in summer, shade counts double.
- The small things that decide it. 3 shaded, 1 that runners describe as quiet, and 5 dog-friendly. Busy or quiet isn't a good-or-bad thing here: a busy path is the safer choice for a solo run at dawn, a quiet one is better for intervals.
More on all of this in the trail-running guides.
Browse Poway trails by type
Running trails near Poway
Worth the short drive — the closest towns with trails in the directory.