Over two decades ago when Derek and I lived in San Diego we spent countless hours riding in the mountains east of town. Whether it was Noble Canyon in the Laguna Mountains, or the fire roads and trails in the Cuyamaca Mountains, it was the best place to go on the weekend to get miles of riding in. On our recent trip to San Diego to visit family, we stopped at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park to mountain bike. Nostalgia!
Most people think of San Diego as being just he beach, but the mountain ranges east are, well, mountainous! Our ride was mostly between 4500-5000′. We started out on East Side Trail to East Mesa Fire Road, then continued up Harvey Moore Trail and Deer Park to Indian Creek before turning back. This was just a couple hours, where we used to continue on and do a loop of Noble as well.
Cuyamaca is a nice mix of oak, pine, scrub, and meadows. This late in the season the meadows were golden and it was nice to see the Lagunas off in the distance. We didn’t see anyone else on the trail, but it was a weekday.
We stopped by Cuyamaca Lake and even drove through Julian afterwards. Tourism is still strong!
Very inspirational.