This open space area called Woodson Mountain (or Mount Woodson), once called by natives as the Mountain of Moonlit Rocks and by early settlers as Cobblestone Peak, now appears on maps as Woodson Mountain in honor of Dr. Woodson who homesteaded some nearby property in 1875. Woodson was a surgeon in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and after achieving local prominence, the mountain was named in his honor. It currently is part of the City of Poway trails system. Rocks from this mountain were used to construct the famous Ramona Castle or the Mt. Woodson Castle. Designed by John Vawter and Emmor B. Weaver, the Mt. Woodson Castle combines English cottage and French castle influences. It is now part of the Mt. Woodson Golf Club. A California Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was built on 40 acres of land at the base of Woodson Mountain in 1933. In 1934 some 300 men were stationed at the camp and were in charge of building the road to the top of the mountain as well as lookout towers around the county and a forestry station at Woodson Mountain. EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION This prominent peak with its distinctive boulder strewn appearance stands at 2894’ and appears much different from surrounding peaks in the county. You may have wondered where did all these boulders came from? Well, they were actually always there! These boulders formed in place by spheroidal weathering, which is a form of chemical weathering in which concentric shells of decayed rock (ranging from a few millimeters to a couple meters, WP1 & WP2 ) are successively loosened and separated from a block of rock, transforming angular blocks into round boulders as you see today. These boulders are remnants of rock that cooled below the earth's surface. As cooling progressed the rock contracted and cracked (WP5 ). Millions of years later, after uplift brought the rock closer to the surface, warmer temperatures, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide, and decaying vegetation combined with rainfall to chemically weather the surfaces of the rocks (WP4 ). The degree of weathering was controlled by the ability of these solutions to penetrate rock. As the decomposed material was stripped away, large round boulders were left behind to form boulder strewn hills like Woodson Mountain. The light colored bedrock of Woodson Mountain is a type geologist’s call Woodson Mountain Granodiorite (WP3 & WP3 ). It has speckles of mafic minerals (dark-colored minerals rich in iron and magnesium), such as biotite (black mica) and hornblende. Granodiorite is classified by the unique amounts of the framework minerals know as quartz (30%), plagioclase (50%), and alkali feldspar (20%) that compose it. This type of rock weathers into boulder strewn slopes rather than smooth slopes, perfect for the local rock climbers. At these views of Highway 67 (WP6 & WP6 ) a road cut shows that weathering along joints forms large, mostly unweathered rock surrounded by more weathered, softer, browner material which is easily eroded, leaving the least weathered rounded rocks in place.
Rather ironic a hill loaded with rocks is called Mt. WOODson.
Love your voice!
0:35
I feel like lots of peaks look like this in the South West, but good hike to potato chip
Ken says they were "allowed" to look outside and in? He had to have their permission??
why did he never explain where the rocks came from. WHY? 😢😢
This open space area called Woodson Mountain (or Mount Woodson), once called by natives as the Mountain of Moonlit Rocks and by early settlers as Cobblestone Peak, now appears on maps as Woodson Mountain in honor of Dr. Woodson who homesteaded some nearby property in 1875. Woodson was a surgeon in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and after achieving local prominence, the mountain was named in his honor. It currently is part of the City of Poway trails system.
Rocks from this mountain were used to construct the famous Ramona Castle or the Mt. Woodson Castle. Designed by John Vawter and Emmor B. Weaver, the Mt. Woodson Castle combines English cottage and French castle influences. It is now part of the Mt. Woodson Golf Club.
A California Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was built on 40 acres of land at the base of Woodson Mountain in 1933. In 1934 some 300 men were stationed at the camp and were in charge of building the road to the top of the mountain as well as lookout towers around the county and a forestry station at Woodson Mountain.
EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION
This prominent peak with its distinctive boulder strewn appearance stands at 2894’ and appears much different from surrounding peaks in the county. You may have wondered where did all these boulders came from? Well, they were actually always there! These boulders formed in place by spheroidal weathering, which is a form of chemical weathering in which concentric shells of decayed rock (ranging from a few millimeters to a couple meters, WP1 & WP2 ) are successively loosened and separated from a block of rock, transforming angular blocks into round boulders as you see today.
These boulders are remnants of rock that cooled below the earth's surface. As cooling progressed the rock contracted and cracked (WP5 ). Millions of years later, after uplift brought the rock closer to the surface, warmer temperatures, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide, and decaying vegetation combined with rainfall to chemically weather the surfaces of the rocks (WP4 ). The degree of weathering was controlled by the ability of these solutions to penetrate rock. As the decomposed material was stripped away, large round boulders were left behind to form boulder strewn hills like Woodson Mountain.
The light colored bedrock of Woodson Mountain is a type geologist’s call Woodson Mountain Granodiorite (WP3 & WP3 ). It has speckles of mafic minerals (dark-colored minerals rich in iron and magnesium), such as biotite (black mica) and hornblende. Granodiorite is classified by the unique amounts of the framework minerals know as quartz (30%), plagioclase (50%), and alkali feldspar (20%) that compose it. This type of rock weathers into boulder strewn slopes rather than smooth slopes, perfect for the local rock climbers.
At these views of Highway 67 (WP6 & WP6 ) a road cut shows that weathering along joints forms large, mostly unweathered rock surrounded by more weathered, softer, browner material which is easily eroded, leaving the least weathered rounded rocks in place.
Because he doesn’t know
They didn't COME from anywhere dipshIt. They were there all along.