Black Mountain Open Space Park

This city preserve is pretty much the furthest north open space park in San Diego, located out in Rancho Penasquitos. It’s in very close proximity to the Penasquitos canyon as well. The park is a pretty good size going from Carmel Mountain road all the way north to Camino Del Sur. Other than maybe Tecolote Canyon, this is one the city’s largest open space park with tons of rolling hills, hiking trails, and lots of nature. Like the rest of the parks, the roads out here were created to maintain the city’s water facilities in the hills. One of the better spots to park I found was at the Black Mountain Ranch Community park off of Carmel Valley road. Here you’ll find plenty of parking spots along with some baseball fields and overall a nice park to walk your dog around.
Out in the hills area is lots of different trails, which all can all be found either on Google Maps or the city’s open space park website. There’s also lots of signage that surrounds the trails that help you determine which way to go to keep on the trail. The trails here are well defined and its quite hard to go off path. The hills make it a great awesome place to go mountain biking, Its definitely one of the better spots to get a lot of biking in. Although the roads make it a good place to go walking, due to all the dirt I wouldn’t advise going running here unless you don’t mind uneven terrain. If you ever come here after a rainstorm like I did, be very prepared to deal with lots of muddy shoes or bike tires.
The size of this park would allow you to spend an entire day out exploring the different trails and enjoying some outdoors while still remaining inside the city. I found it to be very quiet and peaceful out here on the weekends but due to all the home construction surrounding the area, it may be a bit noisy during the week. It’s hard to stop progress but it would be nice if they stopped building homes next to these areas so we can enjoy an escape from the city once in awhile without having to drive way out east.

Located in Rancho Penasquitos, Black Mountain Open Space Park is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an open space park in the Black Mountain area. The «park» is covered with rolling hills, some wildlife, sage, canyons, and trails. The center of the peak is about 1500 ft in elevation and has a beautiful view of the city.
There are different trailheads, and this information was found from the City San Diego website:
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How to Get to Black Mountain
Black Mountain Open Space Park is easily accessible from four different trailheads. Black Mountain itself is served by two trailheads. From I-​15 or I-​5, you can take Hwy. 56 to Black Mountain Road and head north. For the Nighthawk Trailhead, turn right on Oviedo Street and right again on Oviedo Way. Proceed to the top of the hill and park at Hilltop Community Park. The trailhead is just to the north. If you would like to get to the Miner’s Ridge Loop Trailhead, continue north on Black Mountain Road until you reach Carmel Valley Road. Turn Right (east) on Carmel Valley Road and proceed approximately .75 miles to the entrance you will see on your right.
The northwest portion of the park also has two trailheads. The first is on the north end of Black Mountain Ranch Community Park. From the intersection of Black Mountain Road and Carmel Valley Road described above, turn right (east) and take your first left at the stoplight into the community park. To reach the San Dieguito Trailhead from the same location, you will turn left (west) on Carmel Valley Road and proceed to Camino Del Sur. Take a right (north) at the stoplight and continue on Camino Del Sur. When you reach San Dieguito Road, make a left turn (west) and the trailhead is .5 miles on your right.
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I took the Carmel Valley Road emtrance and parked at the Black Mountain Community Park lot. It is a bit rocky getting to the parking lot and there is no marked spaces as it is a dirt area, but park accordingly and respectfully. See map that I posted as a picture below for some trail names.
I wanted to try out an easy trail on a Sunday morning to give me the best views. The trail I tried was, when facing the mountain, to your left. I took a left and continued straight on. The city line was besides me the whole time I was walking and gave me a beautiful view. It was an easy hike with some rocky areas and terrain, but very little elevation, and when it did go up. it was very casual. It was also nicely groomed and well maintained. The view was the best part!
There is so much to explore here, so I will be back!

My all time, most favorite ride at Disneyland. Freakin spectacular, fun, and a nighttime rollercoaster indoors. I would give this a 5 stars except the lines get so unbelievably long and miserable especially once it starts getting dark
makes the experience not as much fun when you know you have to wait in a dreadful line.

Living near the area, I’m lucky to be able to hike (little) Black Mountain quite often. It’s not a terribly difficult or strenuous trek, but it can be quite hot. Expect long periods where shade is scarce. At a moderate pace, the summit can be reached within an hour or so.
I like to start the ascent from Nighthawk trail, which eventually connects with the peak, before coming down via Miner’s ridge loop. Miner’s ridge is narrower and the foliage more dense providing shade for more sun-​affected among us.

Little Black Mountain peak has the usual array of satellite dishes and microwave repeaters. From the top plateau looking westerly, you can see to the oceans and beyond. To the east, the boulder-​filled mountains of Poway, Rancho Bernardo, and Ramona are even more picturesque. I prefer this trail during autumn and winter, as the verdant hills have been sated with rains.
Although all the trails are beginner-​friendly, I do recommend you watch your step as many of the trails, no matter how wide, can be rocky affording the uninitiated a sprained ankle or worse.
happy hiking!
–Karma

I was laughing so hard that someone would review a «mountain» and give it a low rating because it wasn’t flat enough. If your ok with climbing up and then going back down again I highly recommend this hike. The view is great and it’s uncrowded.

Its a good trail for being so local to the city. Amazing views at the top. I tend to get lost out there though, there aren’t very many signs at the trail forks. This blog has some GPS information about the trail:

A good mix of climbing for fellow goats and adequate rock gardens on descents. Miner’s loop and Lilac in mind for repeat soon!

I took Miner’s trail to the summit then back down the glider port trail. The hike was enjoyable — not too easy but not too difficult. I only saw 2 other people my entire 3 hour hike. I recommend hiking with someone on this mountain just in case. You can mountain bike the trail as well. Although going down is pretty steep. The view from the top is nice despite the towers!
Note that there isn’t any water or bathrooms on the mountain so come prepared!

The address listed on this page is the Ranger Station and Canyonside Stables.
If you Google «Black Mountain Open Space’ Maps/​Navigation will bring you to a closed, restricted access gate: 32.974 778, –117.125 534 —DO NOT GO HERE!
Here is Hilltop Community Park: 32.972 701, –117.119 733
Here is Gliderport Trail: 32.990 062, –117.125 242
Here is Miner’s Ridge Loop: 32.992 563, –117.116 257
Black Mountain 4: 32.999 227, –117.98 077
Hiked Gliderport for the first time on Friday midday. The ‘gliderport’ is the big bare patch with carpet covering the hillside about ¹⁄₃ of the way up. It’s a bit of an eyesore that you can see on Google Earth:(
)
I would give credit to whoever hauled rolls of carpet up there except… it’s carpet… on a mountain… I was happy there were no abandoned couches up there.
The upper trail to the peak is not as steep as it looks from the ridge below but the whole trail is pretty much straight up the hill. Several places are wide enough to traverse a bit. A few spots have a lot of loose rock.

I loved these trails! It took me 90 minutes at a fast pace to hike all of Miner’s Ridge and small sections of both Nighthawk and Little Black Loop Trail. I felt like I was back in Santa Fe, NM. I left at 4pm and was mostly shaded the whole time. Will do again!

Nighthawk trailhead. Parking at the hilltop community center makes the trail super accessible which can be a good or bad thing depending on what you’re looking for. It’s a little over 1 mile up. Not very challenging. It’s not good for running because of areas with so many small rocks. I would go again.
Beautiful views and clean.

Black Mountain was a great spot to get outdoors and do some cardio! You start at Black Mountain Open Space Park. The views were pretty good throughout the hike although not as mountainous or impressive as Mount Woodson or Iron Mountain. The trail is rocky and steep so make sure to wear good shoes for working out. (We took Nighthawk trail to the top.) Bring an extra layer for the top of the mountain as it can get cold and windy at the summit!
The trail is around 4 to 5 miles. We went about 5 miles because we took the trail up and the service road back. The service road was a little better for our pup because it was less rocky! The service road ends in a neighborhood. You just have to walk down the street, cross and then take the trail up the hill back to the park.
This hike is dog friendly but make sure to keep them leashed and clean up after them.

My go-​to hiking spot since it’s about a mile from my house.
Great trails! Beautiful view at the top on a clear day — you can see downtown and the ocean :)

Black mountain open space park is a wide range of hills and mountains for hiking and biking. Black Mountain itself can be reached by two trails.
Entrance/​parking:
1.The Nighthawk Trailhead starts at the Hilltop Community Park. There are plenty of parking.
2. Miner’s Ridge Loop Trailhead on Carmel Valley Road
Trail distance/​difficulty: The distance to summit is about 5 miles round-​trip. It is a fairly easy hike with mild to moderate slopes and well maintained trails.
When I heard «Black Mountain», I was imagining high peaks and deep forests area. However, it wasn’t exactly as I pictured. There were little shading along the way and the trails were mostly mild slopes. It is very easy to get to the summit. I was hoping to see breath-​taking view when I reached the summit. However, the summit is occupied by a satellite station. It was quite disappointed that the view wasn’t as good as I expected. Overall, it was an easy hike and still provided good exercise and off the city feeling.

Looking for a break after long days working with stress? Black mountain Open Space Park is a very nice choice. Walking around, see the peaceful & beautiful views then have time relaxing. Dont have to miminize your breath ’cause the air cannot be fresher!

Decent hike but it was kind of rocky. I think it was about 4 miles round trip, so it was a decent workout with pretty good views, but you need to be careful of your ankles on all those little rocks! Love trying new hikes in SD so was happy to find this, but probably won’t do it again.

I’ve been here twice. Honestly, there are better places to hike in San Diego, but there really isn’t anything wrong with this location.
There are actually two paths to take. The first is the obvious path cut out that you’re intended to follow, which eventually leads to the electrical towers at the very top. The second path, well, I’m not even really sure you’re SUPPOSED to take it, but me and my roommate did and liked it. After parking your car and walking up the initial path for about 3 minutes, you come to these lil signs with information and facts. If you look to your left you’ll see some metal bars. If you head between that opening, it’ll lead to a very out-​of-​the-​way path with lots of grass, open space, and not so much of the dirt and rock.

I haven’t been hiking mountains for some months now, so I wanted an easy way to go to the top in the monthly ‘full moon hiking’ a German friend regularly organizes. I am glad she opted to trailhead at the Hilltop Community Park, the named ‘Nighthawk’ trail. Very cool to see the shadow of all hikers participating in that excursion because the moonlight was very intense! I almost need moonglasses:).
It was an easy hike (I think roundtrip was around 5 miles) but I have to recommend to bring sturdy shoes or real hiking boots. I brought mine, but they are kind of old, so with so many rocks I almost fell a couple of times. Too many loose rocks for my taste, I prefer flat terrain, but nature is nature. I am glad that I carried a lamp with me so I could check where I was putting my step all the time (even if the night was bright, not enough for those rocks!).
The views from the top are nice, very panoramic, but if you don’t like to see suburbian houses from a moutain, then go to a more wild location. This was actually my first time at the Black Montain and I liked the proximity from where I live, the fact that was not difficult hike and we could go in a group with different levels and the picnic and dancing once on the top made a magical night.

–pretty easy hike
–lots of loose rocks/​gravel
–lots of radio (?) towers and dishes on top
–view is mostly of tract homes
–a few different trails… we did the nighthawk trail
–barely anyone out on the trails

I never fully understood the statement, «WHAT THE HEO?», until I hiked Black Mountain Open Space Park’s peak.
What the Heo?
Damn, I got ripped off which is sad because it was free. This hike is so boring that while descending, I checked my phone for news updates and flipped through my Facebook. No, I’m not some maverick who can multi-​task hiking and web-​browsing concurrently, it’s just that the hike was so boring.
Do not pass Go?
This is nature… if you’ve never been exposed to the true beauty of California’s wildlife. Remind me to recommend Black Mountain to anyone who wants to see first-​hand what «suburban plight» means. Wow, great views of rolling hills cluttered with homes…
What the heck did King Tut have for breakfast?
You can easily hike this with running/​tennis shoes (though it’s not good for the shoes). Look, I’m not saying you need to be climb Sir Hillary’s mountains or for the trail to have birds of paradise for it to be a good hike. This is just a suburban hike with no personality. The Bud Light of hikes.
Ain’t no thang like a chicken wang?
I parked and then when I got out, I noticed stattered glass everywhere below me. Hmmm, previous smash-​and-​grab huh. Yeah, it’s not worth the risk for such a mediocre hike. Save your time, go elsewhere.
B-​I-​N-​G-​O and Bingo was his name-​o? Hell no.
B-​O-​R-​I-​N-​G and Boring was his name-​o!!!
It might be pretty cool mountain biking this but hiking-​wise, BORING unless maybe Slash is hiking with you.