3,655' El Cajon Mountain, commonly known as El Capitan, is a mountain in the Cuyamaca Mountains, and prominent natural landmark in the East County of San Diego. El Cajon Mountain is the mountain's official name, but El Capitan is used colloquially. It's a nice day hike in the fall. It can get dangerously hot in the summer.

At the time I hiked to this peak in 1958-62, there was no publicized route. The route our groups took is shown in blue on the map below following old mining roads with some bushwhacking in the middle. About 8 miles round trip. Much of that route is now on private property not available to the public.

The current route available to the public is about 11 miles round trip within the El Capitan County Preserve. It is rated as an extremely difficult hike. It is shown in red on the map below. The route profile from a trail sign illustrates the difficulties of the route.

The current trailhead is located on the right side of Wildcat Canyon Road when traveling from Lakeside to Barona Indian Reservation. Expect the main parking lot to be full on the weekend.

With the exception of the .5 miles above the trailhead and the .25 miles below the summit block, this trail is more of a wilderness freeway/double track truck trail. The concept of switchbacks clearly eluded the trail builders as it takes a very direct path up the mountain. It is well traveled so one does not get the back-country adventure feel. It is very well-signed; route finding will not be an issue.

The first five miles follows old mining roads. Details and pictures of the route can be found here and here and here and here and elsewhere on the internet.

Routes to El Cajon Mountain - Mine in blue - Current in red

Trail profile for current trail route to El Cajon Mountain

I hiked to the peak as follows:

This page is under construction. Mostly missing pictures and some text editing