#7. El Cajon Mountain (Plus El Capitan Bonus)

Well, I did it! Being the completionist I am, I couldn’t just stop at 6. Earlier in the year, I’d climbed all 12 options for the SoCal Challenge, and now I can say I’ve also completed all options of the San Diego Challenge. This was a tough hike but rewarding! I started around 6:30am. Supposedly the parking lot gates open at 8am, but they were already open when I arrived. The weather was cool in the morning but warmed up quickly; I shed my jacket about an hour in. The steep ups and downs are infamously relentless the entire time (believe what you’ve heard), but I oddly found that helpful. I never felt like I was overexerting myself; when one muscle group got tired, the terrain gave them and break and switched to other muscles. The trail was wide and easy to follow with mile markers at each mile and a helpful elevation profile graphic to let you know where you are in the rollercoaster. The views from El Cajon are magnificent, especially if you do some light scrambling to the top of a boulder. I took a short side trek to El Capitan after returning to the summit junction. I highly recommend this side trip for some different views without much extra work.