El Cajon Mountain

"It was sunny and in the low sixty a perfect day to do this hike. The trail is well marked. I like the milage and elevation posted along the way. The elevation gain on the way back takes its toll. I am glad that we had trained for this hike. We really enjoyed the views along the way." — tomlinpedque • Feb 25, 2022

"Day 3 and three more peaks. My sixth and final peak of the Inaugural San Diego Six Pack of Peaks Challenge and all three of todays peaks are part of the SD 100 Peaks Challenge (Derek's List). Peaks #6, #7 and #8. All combined the mileage for these three was 19.79 miles and 6,571 feet in elevation gain." — Philip-Yoho • Jan 3, 2021

"As if doing El Cajon Mountain twice wasn't enough, I had to go for a 3rd summit. It was definitely getting warm on the trail. This trail is notorious for being at least 10 to 15 degrees warmer than the actual air temperature. Tons of water and electrolytes are a must. hence the reason I staged water the day before." — Philip-Yoho • Jun 6, 2020

"Finally kicked it up a notch today, after spending a few months doing easy summits. El Cajon Mountain was one of many that I have been targeting in San Diego County, and today was the lucky day to climb it. Today was a cool day, but nothing made the many ups and downs easier. I was just grateful that I wasn’t there on a hot day. About halfway up, I noticed my phone was at only 10% charge. I limited my photos until I was on the summit. After taking a photo of the benchmark, my phone died. At least my phone waited until I had proof that I made it before going dark! " — MikeTeeples • Jan 25, 2020

"What a way to start 2020 off. My initial goal, with the addition of the 6 San Diego peaks to the SoCal Six Pack of Peaks Challenge was to be the first to finish the six new peaks and then be the first to finish all 18 Peaks (Original 6, Alternate 6, and the San Diego 6) of the SoCal Six Pack of Peaks Challenge. So, I started early on January 1 hiking up the back side (Ramona side) of Mount Woodson. Summited in the dark and then headed down back down. This was 4.16 miles and 1362 feet in total elevation gain. I then got in my car and drove 15 minutes to the El Cajon Mountain Trailhead and hiked the 11.61 miles and 4249 feet in elevation gain. One day 2 peaks done!" — Philip-Yoho • Jan 1, 2020

"Second summit of El Cajon. We were at the trailhead at 7:15 am and temp was around 65 with blue skies. Reach the summit in about 2.5 hrs and it was HOT by that point. On the way down we ran into some issues with the heat reaching about 90 and slowing us down significantly." — jakeshurer • Sep 15, 2018

"Another great training hike about 40 minutes from home. One of those hikes where your total elevation gain is high than your highest elevation for the day. Starting to warm up out here!" — Philip-Yoho • Jun 8, 2017

"Started from the main trail head around 11:45 and summited at 2:00. The trail is not technically challenging, but does involve plenty of elevation. There are several steep sections that are loose/gravely." — jakeshurer • Mar 5, 2017

"First time up this MOFO! Wow. It is a hot hard vertical climb. Made all the more difficult because of the uphill climb on the way BACK. Great views all the way to downtown San Diego from the summit though." — divinman • Feb 13, 2016

"A great day for an adventure. Finding our way up the Class 3 route was a blast. Couldn't have asked for a better day. We decided the 2000' of scrambling was far more enjoyable than the usual 7 mile slog up the main trail. The captions for the photos have some more information about the route. If you're going to try this route, plan for at least 6 hours car-to-car. Someone had painted white arrows on rocks here and there which are very helpful, but probably don't belong in a wilderness setting. I found the following sites to have pretty good and accurate route info: http://benjaminsphotos.com/100-peaks-in-san-diego/134-september-26-2010 http://sandiegocaphotography2.blogspot.com/2011/04/el-cajon-mountain-south-arete.html" — benjineer • Nov 30, 2014