Cowles Mountain / Mission Trails
San Diego (Mission Trails Regional Park) · near San Diego · San Diego
Mountain Biking · Trail Running
At a glance
- Skill level
- advanced
- Trail miles
- Extensive Mission Trails network · Cowles is the technical highlight
- Elevation
- Cowles Mountain 1,593ft (San Diego's highest point) · Technical climbs and descents
- Best season
- Year-round (avoid mid-day summer heat)
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Distance
- 3 miles
- Elevation gain
- 950 ft
- Best season
- Year-round · early mornings in summer
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit. Mission Trails Regional Park — free. Popular lot at Golfcrest/Navajo fills early on weekend mornings.
What is here
- Features
- Highest point in the city of San Diego (1,593 ft) · 360° views to the ocean & Mexico · Classic sunrise-summit run · Gateway to Mission Trails' 60+ miles
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Mountain Biking detail
- Ride types
- xc · all-mountain
- Signature trails
- Cowles Mountain technical singletrack · Mission Trails network
- Ebike
- Yes
- Ebike note
- E-bike access varies by trail within Mission Trails and San Diego's park system — check posted signs. Class 1 e-bikes are permitted on many but not all trails.
- Intl tip
- Mission Trails is entirely within San Diego — you can ride technical singletrack and be at the coast for a surf or a meal within 30 minutes. Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve (waterfall, duck pond, the 'Tunnels' manzanita trail system) is another excellent nearby urban ride.
Trail Running detail
- Surface
- technical
- Intl tip
- The main trailhead is at Golfcrest Dr and Navajo Rd — arrive before dawn on weekends for parking and to beat the heat. The broader Mission Trails park (visitor center off Mission Gorge Rd) has vastly more trail, including the technical Fortuna Mountain loops.
The guide
Cowles Mountain, the highest point in the city of San Diego at 1,593 feet, anchors the Mission Trails Regional Park network and…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Cowles Mountain / Mission Trails — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 32.8, -117.035