Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

See some of San Diego County's tallest and fattest trees on Middle Peak in the Cuyamaca Mountains.

If you like big trees, Middle Peak is the place to go in San Diego County. Middle Peak's cone-shaped form is capped with some of the largest coniferous trees in the Cuyamaca Mountains and in all of San Diego County.

The old fire roads and trails that encircle Middle Peak have long been popular hiking routes. The hike described here involves 5.7 miles of travel, 1100 feet of elevation gain, and swings north to include a particularly luxuriant section of forest overlooking Cuyamaca Reservoir.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Begin at a parking area in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park just south of Cuyamaca Reservoir, mile 10.7 on Highway 79. Walk west across the highway and pick up the Minshall Trail going north along the roadside. At about 0.7 mile, the trail pulls away from the highway, turns westward behind several cabins, and joins a dirt road. Continue 0.2 mile on this dirt road, then go left on the Sugar Pine Trail (an old roadbed), which begins a moderate ascent toward Middle Peak's summit.

You climb through dense forests of black oak, white fir, and incense-cedar, reversing direction twice. After the second switchback, or hairpin turn, Jeffrey pines appear along with patches of bracken fern, now unfolding in vernal splendor. A little higher, you come upon the first sugar pines; notice the long, narrow cones on the tips of the drooping branches. Some of the sugar pines on Middle Peak have diameters over six feet. Both sugar pines and Jeffrey pines exhibit "jigsaw-puzzle patterns" in their bark -- but the Jeffrey pines are distinguished by smaller cones and shorter branches.

At 2.5 miles the road passes the foundation of an old cabin and curves southwest to join Middle Peak Fire Road. Keep left at the intersection, go 50 yards, and then turn left, staying on Middle Peak Fire Road.

The summit of Middle Peak now lies south and about 200 feet above you. (You can make the trail-less scramble to the top easily enough as a side trip, but views in all directions are screened by low-growing brush and trees.) Continue east, then south around the upper flank of Middle Peak, keeping straight on the Black Oak Trail as Middle Peak Fire Road veers left and begins a sharp switchbacking descent toward the starting point.

In another mile you'll come down to an intersection of roads and trails on a saddle. Veer sharply left (east) on Milk Ranch Road to complete the hike. As you walk along Milk Ranch Road, you'll be treated to some superb vistas of broad, rolling meadows and distant, thickly forested slopes. The color palette right now is almost exclusively green -- but when the leaves of the black oaks flush a bright yellow around late October and early November, these same vistas are reminiscent of autumnal Appalachian landscapes.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell

If you like big trees, Middle Peak is the place to go in San Diego County. Middle Peak's cone-shaped form is capped with some of the largest coniferous trees in the Cuyamaca Mountains and in all of San Diego County.

The old fire roads and trails that encircle Middle Peak have long been popular hiking routes. The hike described here involves 5.7 miles of travel, 1100 feet of elevation gain, and swings north to include a particularly luxuriant section of forest overlooking Cuyamaca Reservoir.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Begin at a parking area in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park just south of Cuyamaca Reservoir, mile 10.7 on Highway 79. Walk west across the highway and pick up the Minshall Trail going north along the roadside. At about 0.7 mile, the trail pulls away from the highway, turns westward behind several cabins, and joins a dirt road. Continue 0.2 mile on this dirt road, then go left on the Sugar Pine Trail (an old roadbed), which begins a moderate ascent toward Middle Peak's summit.

You climb through dense forests of black oak, white fir, and incense-cedar, reversing direction twice. After the second switchback, or hairpin turn, Jeffrey pines appear along with patches of bracken fern, now unfolding in vernal splendor. A little higher, you come upon the first sugar pines; notice the long, narrow cones on the tips of the drooping branches. Some of the sugar pines on Middle Peak have diameters over six feet. Both sugar pines and Jeffrey pines exhibit "jigsaw-puzzle patterns" in their bark -- but the Jeffrey pines are distinguished by smaller cones and shorter branches.

At 2.5 miles the road passes the foundation of an old cabin and curves southwest to join Middle Peak Fire Road. Keep left at the intersection, go 50 yards, and then turn left, staying on Middle Peak Fire Road.

The summit of Middle Peak now lies south and about 200 feet above you. (You can make the trail-less scramble to the top easily enough as a side trip, but views in all directions are screened by low-growing brush and trees.) Continue east, then south around the upper flank of Middle Peak, keeping straight on the Black Oak Trail as Middle Peak Fire Road veers left and begins a sharp switchbacking descent toward the starting point.

In another mile you'll come down to an intersection of roads and trails on a saddle. Veer sharply left (east) on Milk Ranch Road to complete the hike. As you walk along Milk Ranch Road, you'll be treated to some superb vistas of broad, rolling meadows and distant, thickly forested slopes. The color palette right now is almost exclusively green -- but when the leaves of the black oaks flush a bright yellow around late October and early November, these same vistas are reminiscent of autumnal Appalachian landscapes.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Next Article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.