North and South Fortuna

There are so many places to hike in San Diego. Just in Mission Trails Regional Park alone there are over 60 miles of hiking trails. North and South Fortuna Summit are 2 of the 5 peaks in the 5 Peak Challenge.

I chose to start at East Fortuna Staging Area and head to North Fortuna summit first. If you do the same route, you’ll walk part of Grasslands Loop and Oak Canyon hiking trail. It was really nice to walk along the creek and a lot less touristy.

This hike is not for the occasional/ newbie hiker. There are no switchbacks like Cowles Mountain has. It gets pretty intense around the 1.75 mile mark. It’s about 1 mile of steep incline and quick elevation gain to the first summit. North Fortuna is 1,294 ft high.

After you reach North Fortuna Summit, you can head to South Fortuna Summit (o.6 miles away). What’s nice is it’s all down hill after you reach the second summit 🙂 Watch your step though- the 1 mile of steep incline I mentioned turns into 1 mile of a very steep and slippery decline.

A good portion of this hiking trail is by a creek. Saw some dogs using it to cool off and some kids looking for wild life. No one was swimming, since most of it was still water and it was pretty shallow.

Post hike Acai/ Smoothies: Bowls N Brew Only 2.5 miles from the parking lot! You must pre-order online for now.

All Trails Link to the Map This will give you the turn by turn of how to get from the trail head to North Fortuna Summit. From there you’ll see the signs to head to South Fortuna (pics of the signs at the start) Round trip it’s an extra 1.2 miles than what’s on that map.

Finish the 5 Peak Challenge

Come back to Mission Trails Regional Park and hike Kwaay Paay Peak, Cowles Mountain, and Pyles Peak to complete the entire challenge. Have fun!