This was such a great hike for my son who is 7 and is just starting out hiking.  On the way up we found a nice little area with a broken-down tree that was perfect for lunch.  We took some small breaks and played some word games.  If you have a little one and want to help them learn and have fun, challenge them with this game:

You say a word and they have to come up with a word that starts with the last letter of the word you said.  For example, if you said “Trail” they would have to come up with something like “Life”…we ended up playing it when we descending for pretty much the whole time.

There was quite a bit of overcast when we got to the top so there were no absolute views from the top to see Coronado Islands or any of those, but it was still a very nice day.  On the way back down we decided to take the “Five Oaks” path.  It was a nice change of scenery and pace but the path was quite narrow and there were some issues with footing with my hiking buddy.  He made it down with no problems but he enjoyed the other path better.

Afterward, we went into Julian and grabbed a piece of the pie.  If you go to the Julian Pie Company, I highly recommend the cinnamon ice cream!