Cowles Mountain Summit at Mission Trails Regional Park

By -

 


As the highest point in San Diego at 1,593 ft. above sea level, Cowles Mountain hike is very popular among San Diegans and visitors alike. It is so popular that Mission Trails Regional Park created the 5-Peak Challenge in 2015 to alleviate the crowd in Cowles and encourage hikes to the other four mountain peaks - North Fortuna, South Fortuna, Kwaay Paay, and Pyles. 

(NOTE: The 5-Peak Challenge ended in 2020 although you can still buy a t-shirt to commemorate your hard work.)

Without a clue as to how popular it really is, we first went on a Friday at 9:00 AM thinking we can at least find parking. Nope! The trailhead parking is too small and the neighborhoods are all packed. After 30 minutes of just driving around trying to find parking, we decided to try again the next day - before sunset. We woke up at 4:00 AM to get to the trailhead thinking we would be the first ones there. Wrong again. 


Definitely bring a flashlight if you're hiking early morning as the trail is all uphill and rocky. You'll easily lose your footing if you're not careful. We felt like we were racing the sun to the summit - and won! 




Like I said, this is a popular hike. There were already a lot of people up on the summit taking their sunrise photo-ops you would think it's the first time anyone has seen a sunrise. Yes, we did take our obligatory sunrise pic - it's the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that we have seen one, too!


After pictures, we left the crowd to head to the Pyles Peak trailhead, which most people don't know is just between the radio towers and Cowles Summit marker. 

Since it's no longer dark, I was able to take pictures of the Cowles trail heading down.







Other than this, there is not much I can say about Cowles without repeating what everyone has blogged about. Yes, it is that popular. 

Cowles Mountain Trailhead Address: 7001 Golfcrest Dr, San Diego, CA 92119