Hikes in San Diego County
San Diego County is located at the bottom of California and covers over 4,500 square miles from the Mexican border up to Orange and Riverside counties. Despite being the second most populous county in California, San Diego County has a wide variety of outdoor opportunities for hikers ranging from coastal strolls to mountain ascends to desert trails.
This website currently offers only a small selection of trails in San Diego County (more coming soon). In the meantime, if you are serious about hiking in San Diego County and like books, there is no better source than Afoot and Afield San Diego County, a thorough guide in which the late Jerry Schad diligently documented 250 trails across the San Diego County.
The west side of San Diego County has 70 miles of scenic Pacific Ocean coastline. On the eastern front of the county, the landscape is quite different. Desert terrain dominates, including Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which is the largest state park in California. As a housekeeping note, the trails in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park are not listed in the Southern California section of hikespeak.com and can be found with the other hikes in the California Desert.
Hiking San Diego County
 | Indian Flats Trail This easy half-mile hike from Indian Flats Campground explores seasonal pools in the East Fork of the San Luis Rey River. |
 | Moserate Mountain This 4.4-mile loop begins with a 1 2/3-mile ascent that gains 1,200 feet to reach a panoramic summit and then descends along a ridge for even more views. |
 | Observatory Trail The 5.1-mile hike travels between Observatory Campground and Palomar Observatory, crossing a pleasant mountain woodland with valley views along the way. |
 | Kwaay Paay Peak This 2.5-mile hike rewards a good workout with panoramic views as it climbs to a 1,194-foot summit in Mission Trails Regional Park, just 10 miles from downtown San Diego. |
