Black Mountain via Nighthawk Trail and Miner's Ridge Trail Loop is a 6.4 mile heavily trafficked loop trail located near San Diego, California that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail offers a number of activity options and is accessible year-round. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
Free parking and a restroom at Hilltop Park
March 2, 2021February 28, 2021
February 22, 2021Make sure you hike early morning or late evenings. No shade but a great view of San Diego
February 21, 2021February 18, 2021Not crowded on a Thursday. Weird road walk at the end, otherwise very pleasant. Saw Catalina and San Clemente Islands from the top.
February 16, 2021Very rocky. We started at 5:00am, and it was a nice sunrise. I believe this hike is better for sunsets.
February 1, 2021Perfect hiking day!
January 30, 2021Loved it! Especially after all the rain yesterday. Tad muddy, but made for an adventurous hike.
January 16, 2021Excellent hike. Easy, but steep and rocky at points. Make sure to bring water, not much shade
January 10, 2021very rocky, recommend bringing poles if you have them.
January 10, 2021January 10, 2021January 10, 2021Best combo of trails for hiking in Blk Mountain area for good cardio and views from both sides of the mountain. Beautiful scenery. More shade on the north side (Miners Ridge) Definitely my favorite. The beauty of this hike is that it’s close to the suburbs, ie. no need to travel far if you live in NC SD, get a bite or eat or snack afterwards.
January 9, 2021January 1, 2021This trail starts with a quick climb but it’s only about a quarter mile. The summit isn’t that hard. After the summit we did the Miners Loop trail. It’s pretty. There is a bench at the marked viewpoint but it’s a bit overgrown. We took the side trip to Glider Point. I’d recommend that as the views are amazing. We wanted to second summit but the trail is closed and another hiker said just last week the police helicopter was circling and using a loudspeaker to tell hikers to get off the trails. The loop isn’t well marked so we missed the way out and ended up doing half the loop again. There are lots of bikers but they were mostly polite and had bells so you could hear them coming. We took the Miners Trail back down to Hilltop. It was a fire road but pretty easy down if you have knee issues. Overall a good cardio hike, but busy with bikers and poor signage.
December 31, 2020Beautiful hike, average trail, rocky.
December 29, 2020Quite muddy and slippery after raining all day the day before. It was a great workout though and I think I added a mile or so because of some detours and missing the trail. .
December 13, 2020December 5, 2020October 16, 2020Great mountain bike ride
September 1, 2020August 31, 2020Hiked this last week and it was really peaceful and easy to do before work! I think this is better for mountain bikers than hikers though
August 12, 2020This is a pretty tough trail, I'm new to MBing and got in over my head, but I had a blast. I cut the trip short because I left my water. I wouldn't recommend going without water.
July 13, 2020Started this trail at 6am on a Monday and did not realize just how high we hiked due to the thick morning clouds. When we reached the peak we were above the clouds which was spectacular. It was pretty rocky on the way back down and we did see alot of others on the trail but overall it was worth it!
June 14, 2020Too many people (Sunday) and too many bikes. Oh well. Great hike anyway!!
June 11, 2020Original plan was to take Nighthawk Trail to Miner's Ridge Loop Trail to the Secondary Summit then to the main summit and back to the starting point. BUT, for unknown reasons the short segment between summits is marked as "trail closed" -- very unfortunate since it is a nice wide, straight link between summits. Instead, hikers are expected to backtrack several miles and just walk up the access road.
