Stonewall Peak: Trail Design and Beauty of Bare Trees

At Stonewall Peak in Cuyamaca State Park, a great trail design turns a tough climb into an easy hike anyone can enjoy. 

In a little over an hour, you can drive up through Julian to Cuyamaca State Park, park your car at Paso Picacho Campground on Highway 79 and be right on the trail up to the summit of Stonewall Peak. We made it a day trip leaving Scripps Ranch at 10:30 on a Sunday morning and stopped for lunch in Julian before going to the trailhead. We were ready for a tough climb but instead we were surprised by how easy this hike was. It was the trail design or route that made all the difference, with many switchbacks to reduce the effort of the climb, a hard hike turns into a moderate walk uphill.

Thanks to the easy trail design, you are able to relax a bit and enjoy the nature around you on this hike, even on the way up.  My All Trails mobile app shows this to be an easy 2 mile hike with an 850 ft elevation gain up to the 5,700 ft. summit.  On the way up and down you will enjoy shade from oaks, great manzanita under growth and the strange beauty of bare, burned-out trees from the fires that devastated this forest area several years back.

These bare trees are sad but they also add to the beauty of the area, especially in good lighting.

At the top, you will enjoy awesome backcountry views to the north and east. And to the west, you can consider another hiking challenge for your next visit, Cuyamaca Peak, 3 miles up to 6,512 ft.

There is not much room to relax at the top, it's a small rocky outcrop protected by railings, but the views are worth the trip.

And, if you had lunch in Julian, you won't need to picnic!

The biggest impact that this hike had on me was to want to come back to climb Cuyamaca. From there you can get views to San Diego and it looks like more of a workout. Overall, Stonewall is a great hike, especially when combined with lunch in Julian. We even went back that way and stopped again for a milkshake in the the old drugstore. What a great day, made extra special because we shared it with our son Devin who was visiting for the weekend. 

I recommend that you put Stonewall on your hiking list.