Sunrise Highway (Mt. Laguna)
Laguna Mountains · near Mt. Laguna / Pine Valley · San Diego
Road Cycling
At a glance
- Distance
- long
- Best season
- Spring–fall; hot below in summer; cool & occasionally snowy up top in winter
What is here
- Scenery
- mountain
- Amenities
- Dramatic Anza-Borrego overlooks · Cool Laguna Mtns pine forest · Long, steady scenic climb · Mt. Laguna village services
- Best for
- A scenic desert-overlook mountain climb
- Features
- Climb into the Laguna Mountains · Overlooks onto the desert below · Chaparral to cool pine forest · Long, steady ascent
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Long, exposed lower climb — heat & sun · Highway traffic & motorcyclists · Cool up top; snow possible in winter · Long descent — control your speed
- Beginner friendly
- No
Road Cycling detail
- Ride types
- climb
- Road
- mixed
- Climbing
- 4
- Ride notes
- A long, scenic climb into the Laguna Mountains — Sunrise Highway ascends through chaparral into cool pine forest near 5,900 ft, with jaw-dropping overlooks straight down onto the Anza-Borrego desert thousands of feet below
- Stats note
- Long climb to ~5,900 ft; chaparral to pine; dramatic desert overlooks
- Seasonal
- No
- Intl tip
- One of San Diego's most scenic long climbs — Sunrise Highway rises from chaparral into cool pine forest in the Laguna Mountains near 5,900 ft, with jaw-dropping overlooks straight down thousands of feet onto the Anza-Borrego desert floor, plus services at Mt. Laguna village near the top. Lower climb is exposed and bakes in summer; summit is cool with occasional winter snow. Ride milder seasons, carry water and a layer, watch for highway traffic and weekend motorcyclists, control the long descent.
The guide
Sunrise Highway, climbing into the Laguna Mountains east of San Diego, is one of the region's most scenic long ascents — a stea…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Sunrise Highway (Mt. Laguna) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 32.87, -116.42