The San Diego Parks and Recreation Department (SDCPR) recently purchased land around Mt Woodson and is developing a parking lot that is separate from, but is near, the Mt Woodson trail. (Click here for more information.) Caltrans will be doing some lane striping changes to facilitate entering and exiting from this new parking lot entrance. As part of the agreement to support this County project, Caltrans is requiring the County to post No Parking signs all along SR67 in front of Mt Woodson.
Caltrans has explained to us that parking has never been allowed anywhere along SR67, but they have not enforced this because so many people park there to use the Mt Woodson trail. However, when the new parking lot is finished, they plan to begin enforcing it (i.e., tickets are to be given).
Although there hasn’t been an official statement, informally we’ve been told by SDCPR that the parking lot (called the Gateway Preserve parking lot) will have restricted hours of operation, perhaps sunrise to sunset. The rest of the time the parking lot will be closed and unavailable.
As confirmed by Caltrans, once this plan is complete, there will be no alternate parking available anywhere near Mt Woodson other than the Gateway Preserve lot (which is not to be open before sunrise). That the new parking lot has restricted hours of operation was a surprise to the hikers and even to Caltrans who were relying on the new parking lot to get people off SR67.
This plan means there will be no parking available during the popular early morning time, impacting all people who:
- Need to hike early to get home in time to get ready for work or school
- Try to avoid hiking in the heat of the day
- Walk their dogs before the pavement gets too hot for their paws
- Hike up early to see the sunrise over the valley or over the clouds
- Hike up under full moons
- Hike up on the 4’th of July to watch fireworks
Many people fall into one or more of the above categories. Regularly on Saturdays and Sundays, 50-75 people have been observed hiking before sunrise, with around 50 cars parked along Mt Woodson. As word has spread about Mt Woodson and Potato Chip rock, it has become increasingly popular. There are also dozens of people who regularly hike during the week too, many of whom have been doing it for many years, some for more than 40 years! And occasionally during the week, before dawn, buses of students and church groups unload dozens of people at a time.
There are a lot of people who arrive at Mt Woodson in the pre-dawn hours!
What will all these people do?
At times in the past, when people couldn’t park along 67 in front of Mt Woodson due to road paving work, people found other places to park – perhaps not officially allowable places, perhaps somewhat annoying to nearby residents, perhaps a bit scary (certainly less safe than parking along 67), and definitely inconvenient, but as they say, “where there is a will, there is a way”.
So the problem created by the County Park’s plan is more than just an inconvenience for people who hike the Mt Woodson trail and nearby residents, it is a public safety issue too.