North & South Fortuna Loop (Mission Trails)
Mission Trails Regional Park, San Diego · near San Diego (Tierrasanta / Santee) · San Diego
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- loop
- Distance
- 6.8 miles
- Elevation gain
- 1,600 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Fall through spring · Very hot and shadeless in summer
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit or fee (Mission Trails Regional Park). Multiple trailheads (Old Mission Dam, Clairemont Mesa, Tierrasanta); some connectors close after heavy rain.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- South Fortuna wooden staircase · Twin summits (~1,094 & ~1,291 ft) · San Diego River crossing · Historic Old Mission Dam
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- This is the 'real' Mission Trails hike if you found Cowles Mountain too crowded — but there's almost no shade, so go early and carry water. Take the South Fortuna staircase slow on the descent.
The guide
The Fortuna Mountains give Mission Trails a genuine leg-burner well beyond the tourist-magnet Cowles Mountain — a loop over twi…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to North & South Fortuna Loop (Mission Trails) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 32.842, -117.0424