San Diego 5-Peak Challenge

A big thanks to Lupita for hiking the San Diego Peak Challenge with me. We did this in one day, summiting Cowles Mountain, Pyles Peak, Kwaay Paay Peak, North Fortuna Peak, and South Fortuna Peak, for a total distance of 16 miles and total elevation gain of 4,249 feet.

The parking lot and side streets at the Cowles Mountain Staging Area were already full before 6:00 AM — Cowles is by far the most popular summit in Mission Trails Regional Park, and starting in the dark was the only way to beat the crowds. The first photo of the day is at the top of Cowles Mountain, the tallest point in the city of San Diego at 1,592 feet, sunrise fog still pooled in the canyons below — both of us holding up one finger for the first peak done.

From there it was on to Pyles Peak, then Kwaay Paay, each summit marked with its own trail monument and its own finger count for the photo — two, then three. A stretch of connector trail links the first three peaks to North Fortuna and South Fortuna on the other side of the park, past oak canyons and open chaparral with almost no shade anywhere along the route. North Fortuna came fourth, South Fortuna last — easy to mix up since the two summits sit just a ridge apart, separated by a shallow saddle, but each with its own monument to prove it.

It was hot at times, but we had so much fun. Five summits, five monuments, five photos marking the count — a wonderful day with Lupita out in Mission Trails.