Cowles Mountain Trailhead in San Carlos marks the primary access point for the most-hiked summit in San Diego, located off Golfcrest Dr at Navajo Rd in the 92119 ZIP. The 2.9-mile out-and-back trail climbs 912 feet through roughly 37 switchbacks to the 1,593-foot summit — the highest point within San Diego city limits — and the ascent takes most hikers between 90 minutes and two hours. Named for George A. Cowles, an 1870s ranching pioneer and raisin grower in the region, the peak sits inside Mission Trails Regional Park, the seventh-largest urban park in the United States at over 7,000 acres. Post-hike recovery traffic from the trailhead feeds into the San Carlos commercial corridor, where The Simple Coffee House on Lake Murray Blvd handles the morning caffeine demand. The lower half of the trail traverses exposed coastal sage scrub and chamise chaparral on a moderate grade, while the upper half steepens through granite boulder fields and wood-reinforced switchbacks that require solid footwork on loose decomposed granite. Summit views span 360 degrees — downtown San Diego and Point Loma to the west, the Coronado Islands and Mexico to the south, the Laguna Mountains to the east, and North County ridgelines as far as Orange County on clear mornings. The Barker Way trailhead off Boulder Lake Ave offers an alternate 4.5-mile loop route that merges with the main trail near the summit and draws fewer crowds. Baked goods from Maya's Cookies in Grantville have become a post-summit stop for hikers heading back through the Mission Gorge corridor. A staging-area parking lot with restrooms and picnic tables sits at the Golfcrest Dr base, though overflow parking along Golfcrest fills early on weekend mornings. The trail permits leashed dogs but not bicycles, and park rangers recommend hiking before mid-morning during summer months when exposed slopes exceed 90 degrees.