Fortuna Mountain Challenge

Fortuna Mountain was my latest conquest on my journey to climb all the high points of San Diego County. Bobbi and I have now climbed Cowles Mtn., Black Mountain, Mt. Woodson, Stonewall Peak, and now North Fortuna Mountain in the Mission Trails Regional Park.  

Like my other trail reviews, I want to share a few insights about this hike that might entice you to try it someday and some thoughts about the challenges and highlights of the trail.

We started out at 9:30 am on a clear Sunday morning with a temperature of 70 and a brisk cool breeze, perfect hiking weather!  We took three bottles of water for two people (needed at least one more) and some oranges and granola bars. The trail guides (I use alltrails.com) say this is a hard hike with a 1,598 elevation gain.  They also say you can do it in less than 2 hours, but it took us four hours out and back with 30 minutes for lunch and taking in the views at the top.

Get ready for a great hike and a good workout.  After you leave the Clairemont Mesa Blvd. trailhead and cross the bridge over the first ravine look out at your goal, the North Fortuna summit. It's not as high as Cowles Mountain but you won't find switchbacks in the trail to help you up.  But the good news is you also won't find the crowds, even on a Sunday morning we didn't see many other hikers and enjoyed this natural escape from busy San Diego.

I was also struck by how big Mission Trails Regional Park really is.  Driving by it on the south and driving on Highway 52, it seems big but it feels huge when you get out and hike it. Before you get to the bottom of Fortuna, you will have a couple of miles hiking through nature and there is one big valley to cross down and up before arriving at the real climb up the mountain.

Get ready for long sustained uphill grades on the wide rocky trail, getting tougher as you near the top.

Take it slow like us or run up if you can, but take breath breaks and drink water. And keep the goal in mind, after you reach the top, the views are amazing. We sat on some big rocks and enjoyed views to Point Loma, La Jolla and beyond.  To the east you have a great views of Santee, El Cajon, El Capitan and all the way to the Cuyamacas.

After taking a few photos and lunching on oranges and granola bars it's time to head back.

It can be slippery on the way down so wear good shoes.  Down always goes faster and we were amazed that we were able to make the climb up, it just looked so much harder to see it on the way down.

We decided to return with a different route, following the trail to South Fortuna and across the valley along the utility lines. This route uses a service road so it's an easy walk ... until you have to climb out of the valley and back to the trail head.  That ends the hike with another long stretch of sustained uphill climbs. These last climbs were tough wearing us out and ensuring that we got a good workout for the day.

Overall, I rate this a tough hike but worth it because of the views at the top. Glad to check it off my list but I am sure we will do it again, after we climb San Diego's other peaks! Many more to go.