Mission Trails Regional Park is 7,000 acres of coastal sage scrub and chaparral in the hills east of Mission Valley, making it one of the largest urban parks in the United States. The park sits ten minutes from downtown by freeway, yet the trails here feel nothing like city hiking: the terrain is rough, the views are long, and on weekday mornings you can hike for an hour without seeing another person.
Cowles Mountain at the park's eastern edge is the highest point in the city of San Diego at 1,591 feet. The trail to the summit is a reliable after-work hike for locals — a 3-mile round trip that gains about 950 feet. The summit views on a clear day extend south to Tijuana, west to the ocean, and north across the entirety of San Diego County. The trail is crowded on weekend mornings; Wednesday evenings are quieter.
The Old Mission Dam at the park's western end is a 1815 stone structure, one of the oldest European-built water control structures in California. The Kumeyaay Lake Campground inside the park allows overnight stays by reservation.