Kick Ass Guide to San Diego's Mountains
Trails, Food, Beer and Live Music
Let’s just say that it’s an hour’s drive from San Diego to the mountains “out the 8.” Some trailheads are more like 45 minutes, but that might depend where you’re leaving from in/around the city. The point is this, though: when you get the mountains and ride, you’ll see there’s really good stuff in San Diego and that for the most part, the trails are not crowded. Why? San Diego is a beach/surf town and not a mountain biking own. Tourists are not coming to San Diego for its mountains, as an added fact.
I’m okay with that.
To get started, basically there are the Cuyamacas, which are found in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, pretty much, and there are the Lagunas, which are in Cleveland National Forest. Technically, the Anza-Borrego State Park system is involved in some of these lands, with regard to management, but that’s a somewhat complicated story to tell and you don’t really need to know it to ride it.
All of it is Kumeyaay land and if you look around closely enough, you’ll see their presence on the land.
Cuyamacas
For one gear riding, this is what I do most of the time, or a variation of it:
Take out the visitor center part and stay on West Side and continue up to where it ends for bikers. Cross over 79 there and jump on Cold Stream/Cold Spring.
Sometimes I do this:
To what’s above, you can add in/wander over to connect into what’s in the first note, connecting into Soapstone and creating a ride by combining segments.
There’s a lot out there to ride. Map it out based on your time frame and go have a grand time. In winter, look faaaaaar to the north. You might see snowcapped San Gorgonio that sits east of L.A.
The Lagunas
Yes, you can ride it all on a single speed. The highlight, for me, is riding Pine Mountain Trail in the Champagne Pass area of the Lagunas. That is good ole mountain biking at its finest.
Here’s what I often do first:
Instead of going all the way back to Penny Pines, I use the connector trail from Noble and add in some of this:
Again, use your favorite mapping app and figure out what you wanna ride based on your time frame. If I park at Penny Pines, I always add in the meadows and Chico Ravine (not on the note) or Los Gatos, using the old broken up road near the kiosk where everyone parks on the Sunrise Highway.
Kiosk …
You can park at the kiosk along the Sunrise Highway, where the trailhead is for Sunset Trail, which you can’t bike. If I park there, I ride pretty much all that is on the 2nd note. I sometimes add in Champagne Pass.
To ride it all, which, yes, you can do on a single speed, park at East Mesa in Cuyamaca and ride north through the park, using Lucky 5 to get you over to the Sunrise Highway. Take that to Pioneer Mail/Pine Mountain Trail and make your way to Champagne Pass and then right/down Indian Creek Trail. Connect into/up the backside of Cuyamaca towards Oakzanita Peak (add that in, too, if you can) and then go down to where you parked. That’s a doozy of a ride!
The ride options are endless out there. You can add in Noble Canyon. I’ve not ridden it on a single speed. Why? The ride up from Pine Valley would be a bit much, for me. Someday, maybe?!?!?!
Note: In winter, all of this could be snowed in, sometimes over a foot deep. Summer can be quite hot. Most of the time, though, it’s pretty much gonna be between 60-80 degrees with sunshine.
Food and Beer in the Area (and live music)
North from both places sits Julian. Before you get there, you’ll come to Lake Cuyamaca. Stop at The Pub at Lake Cuyamaca for really tasty food and a top notch beer list.
In Julian, there’s Julian Beer Company and Nickel Beer Company. Both locations are home to people/families who are legends of the San Diego craft beer scene. You will have access to world class beer in a small mountain town. JBC has bbq and pizza, and on the weekends, they sometimes have live music. Nickel has beer and snacks.
If you’re in the Lagunas, there’s The Outpost by Valley Farm and the Pine House Cafe and Tavern. I like ‘em both. Pine House sometimes has live music on the weekends.
If you wanna get back down the hill and head towards the city, stop off at Mcilhenny Brewing in Alpine. They are second-to-nobody when it comes to West Coast IPAs. There are other tied-for-firsts, yes. And/or, stop in at Burning Beard Brewing in El Cajon. It has punk music vibes, outstanding beer and they serve up some mean burgers.
That’s it! Summer’s comin’. Get out and ride!
The Kick Ass Guide Series is inspired by Shanna’s Kick Ass Cogs (and Rings) at Endless Bikes Co. I asked if I could use the “Kick Ass” part for naming the series, as the guides are set up to be about single speed riding. She graciously and immediately said, hell yeah! Check out what she offers at:
To support independent writing about mountain biking and indie beer, as well as receive discounts to MTB-related businesses and breweries, use this link below to get the $10.20/year subscription rate. Paseando MTB is sponsor and corporate free writing and photography. You’ll receive upwards of 75 newsletters in your email inbox throughout 2025, bringing it to about 14 cents for each email/musing/post:
Just woke up in Horse Heaven camp -which should be called MTB Heaven as no horses are allowed in horse heaven. Ironic.
Forgot to also add in: you need to get an Adventure Pass for the Lagunas. A National Parks pass works. For Cuyamacas, you also need to pay at the parking lots, but not all. There's signage.