Cowles Mountain

Do not go in the middle of the day, by 11 am the trails are packed with people. This is a morning or evening hike. This is not easy. While it is covered in bushes and trees on the way up it still leaves little as far as shade. Bring hats, sunscreen, shade of some sort and tons of water. Go slow if you’re a beginner. If you are taking the service road route make sure you have shoes with good tread…skate shoes will have you sliding off the mountain for sure. And enjoy the view when you get to the top.

As a Midwesterner who is newly moved here, mountains are a novelty and I love seeing them where I live. After hearing about the 5 Peak Challenge at Mission Trails Regional Park, I knew this was the challenge I needed since races in person are canceled for the time being. The parking lot filled up quickly as noted but I easily parked on the road outside the lot. The path to the summit was busy for 8am, but everyone was moving at a easy pace and enjoying the gorgeous weather. There are parts of the path where you have to climb over rocks but overall it isn’t too bad. For the websites that said this is a great hike for kids, I say, what age, because this was a killer workout for me but to be fair, I come from straight flat land! Beautiful views at the peak. Bring water and a hat, the sun was beating down early in the morning.

The best place for quick but really good hiking. Moderate to hard - depends on people, I will say a moderate one. It’s always busy hike and easy to park in the road. You will see 360 degrees views all the way up-to north and downtown on west and beautiful hill stations in north and south. Please bring water. Been to this hike more than 20 times but still loving it. Beautiful sunset view in pacific.

The Cowles Mountain hike consists of switch backs all the way to the top. The trail is moderately difficult with some loose rocks and dirt. Pretty manageable for the average person. I’d recommend getting on this trail early or late in the afternoon. During busy times this trail is worse than the line for a ride at Disneyland and why it gets three stars. You are pretty exposed to the sun and wind with no available shade. Cowles Mountain (/koʊlz/, [kaʊlz]; properly KOHLZ, commonly KOWLZ) is a prominent mountain located in the San Carlos neighborhood, within the City of San Diego, San Diego County, California. The 1,593-foot (486 m) summit is the highest point of the city of San Diego. The mountain is named after George A. Cowles, an 1870s-80s rancher and early businessperson in southwestern San Diego County. The main trail to the summit is a popular hiking destination taking hundreds of people per day to a 360-degree panorama of San Diego County. The hike to the top is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long and an elevation change of about 950 feet (290 m). This trail is on the corner of Golfcrest Drive and Navajo Road. A much-less-used but maintained trail begins near the intersection of Boulder Lake Avenue and Barker way. This trail meets the main trail near the summit. On March 25, 2013 the trails of Cowles were closed for maintenance. The trails were reopened in May 2013 after several improvements to water drainage and rock steps.