Prominent mountain located in the San Carlos neighborhood, the 1,593-foot summit is the highest point of the city of San Diego

General Information

Hours:

Beach open from 6am to sunset

Fees:

No fee

Pet Policy:

Dogs are not allowed on any area of the Coronado Beach except at Dog Beach, which is a sandy area at the north end of the beach.

Closest cities with hotels:

San Diego

Seasons:

Seasons: All year

Location:

Website:

Rating:

★ 5.0

How to Get There

Overview

Cowles Mountain is a prominent mountain located in the San Carlos neighborhood, within the city limits of San Diego. The 1,593-foot (486 m) summit is the highest point of the city of San Diego. It is protected within Mission Trails Regional Park.

History

The mountain is named after George A. Cowles, a rancher and businessperson in southwestern San Diego County during the 1870s and 1880s.

For many years Cowles Mountain was locally known as "S" Mountain. In 1931, 500 students from San Diego State College, now San Diego State University (SDSU), painted a 400-foot-tall (120 m) letter "S" on the side of the mountain, after which it took on its popular name. In April 1942, during World War II, the local military ordered the S covered up for the sake of national security. After the war the painting tradition was resurrected.

In the 1970s, the annual repainting tradition was ceased for environmental and habitat protection, but had a brief resurgence in the late 1980s. The "S" has not been repainted for nearly three decades.

Mission Trails Regional Park

The entire mountain, with marked trails, is a protected area within Mission Trails Regional Park, which opened in 1972.

Trails

The main trail to the summit is a popular hiking destination taking hikers 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.

Geology

Cowles Mountain consists of Jurassic and early Cretaceous metavolcanic and shallow intrusive igneous rocks that are resistant to erosion, and never covered by later Cretaceous and Tertiary sedimentary overburden. Small plateaus on the south and east slopes are the remnants of an extensive terrestrial, near sea level erosional surface called the Poway Terrace that are now about 1,200 feet (370 m) in elevation.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cowles Mountain", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0