Mission Trails Regional Park
7.5 miles

I went hiking today in Mission Trails Regional Park. Rather than do any of the more popular trails, I decided to hike in the northwest portion of the park, up near the 52 freeway. And rather than park at the visitor center, I parked at the edge of the park on Clairemont Mesa Blvd. There were only a few other cars there (12:30 Sunday afternoon), so I would say there's always plenty of parking.

I started out heading east, and went through Suycott Wash, then up to the top of South Fortuna. This portion is not very long, but it is VERY steep, and I had to stop to catch my breath a few times and my legs were burning by the time I got to the top, at 1094 feet. From there I headed north to North Fortuna Peak, which is 1291 feet. Again, I proceeded north almost until I hit the 52, then west around Shepherd Pond, then back on the Rim Trail.

I would recommend if you hike this area, at least get a generic map from the Visitor Center, some of the trail markings aren't that great. In fact, I thought I was following the signs back to where I was parked, but ended up in a neighborhood. I could see my car from there, but I was up on a canyon hilltop, and needed to do a loop to get down to my car... Hopefully if anyone does the hike you have better luck following the signs than I did.

The total distance was about 7 1/2 miles.