Everest Challenge Guidelines

•   Hike at least 29, 032 feet on trails in San Diego County in calendar year 2024. Challenge begins January 1, 2024 and ends December 31, 2024.     
• Challenge celebration will be in January 2025 to celebrate achievements/completion and award prizes. You do not have to have completed the challenge to attend.   
• An ‘Everest’ button will be provided for those who complete the challenge, in addition to some "TBD" small items. You must be present to collect your prize. They will not be mailed.    
• Special prizes for the hiker who hikes:    

1. The most elevation within 2024  
2. The most unique/individual trails in 2024       

• Can repeat up to 10 trails in the challenge. 10 TOTAL of the trails needed to achieve the elevation can be a repeat of something done before. So if you do 50 hikes to achieve 29, 032 feet in elevation, 40 of the hikes must be unique/cannot be repeats of hikes you have done before. You can do the same trail 10 times or 5 trails 2x or whatever, but the same trail can only be repeated 10 times. You can however, travel to the same peak on a different trail and it counts. For example, if you hike to Cowles Mtn Peak via the Barker Way trail on one day and the Big Rock Park trail another day, those are not repeat trails.   
• All trails are at your discretion; a list of suggested trails is provided in the next section below, but participants can choose any peak or trail that meets the guidelines/requirements. Hikes offered will not note that they are challenge eligible, any hike 2 miles or longer within San Diego County is eligible for the challenge. Note that 75% of your eligible hikes must be done on posted hikes with our San Diego Hiking Ladies group.    
• Please research the hikes in detail before you go; the list/sites have general info only and it’s up to you to make sure you are comfortable with and able to do with any hike before you attempt it.   
• A template is provided in the last section of this page to track and record your peak hikes and miles   
• Can do the peaks in any order and in any time frame (1 a month, 1 a week, 2 a week, 3 a week, etc) during the 2024 calendar year.   
• If a trail is not on the list and is not identified in a trail website/book (Sierra Club, All Trails, SD County Hiking, Afoot and Afield in San Diego County, etc) the trail must include AT LEAST 2+ miles to count in the challenge. All trails must be in San Diego County to qualify in the challenge. All trails accepted as qualifying are at the discretion of Kathryn R., challenge organizer or group owner, Michella.  
• Take a photo of yourself on trail showing you did the hike, preferably at a summit (can be group photo). Post them on our site, at Hiking Friends, or your own social media! You don’t have to submit them with your tracking sheet. But you should have them!    
• Must submit list with dates of hikes, name of trail, and elevation gain for each hike, at the end of the challenge time frame (by Jan 10th, 2025) to be eligible for gift; can submit electronically to Kathryn; no need to send info prior to end of challenge. You will need to be present at the celebration event to claim your gift, Kathryn will not be mailing the items. Can pick up at anytime (i.e. on a later hike) though.  
• At least 75% of the hikes need to be done with the San Diego Ladies Hiking, Walking & More Group. So if you do 50 hikes to achieve the elevation, 38 of those hikes would need to be posted hikes with the SD Hiking Ladies and More group to count towards the challenge goal.     
• The goal of the challenge is to discover new peaks and trails and TO HAVE FUN…whatever you can achieve is great. Not every hike is a hike with significant elevation gain and that’s OKAY! You also don’t have to join the challenge to do any of these hikes…it’s a personal challenge, NOT a race or competition.     
• Questions to Kathryn (Kathy) Ruiz by filling out the contact form below OR through the Meet up app direct message function. Please don’t ask specific challenge questions on the event comment pages themselves.         

Everest Challenge Suggested Trails in San Diego County (no specific order). As of 11/3/23  

Page numbers refer to descriptions in Afoot and Afield in San Diego, 5th edition; most hikes can also be found in AllTrails and other books/internet sites .  

1. Cowles Mtn (Mission Trails Regional Park); all trails/peaks in Mission Trails covered in pgs 151-167  

2. Fortuna Mountain North (Mission Trails); pgs 151-167  

3. Fortuna Mountain South (counts as separate trail), though if done on the same hike as North Fortuna, counts as one hike.pg 151-167   

4. Kwaay Paay (Mission Trails); pg 151-167   

5. Pyles Peak (must be combined with Cowles; is a good amount of elevation gain.) Mission Trails; pg 151-167   

6. Viejas Mountain; pg 189  

7. Garnet Peak; pg 290  

8. Volcan Mountain: pg 257  

9. Stanley Peak; pg 96  

10. Bernardo Mountain; pg 99  

11. Mother Miguel; pg 202  

12. Oakzanita Peak; Cuyamaca Rancho State Park; pg 276  

13. Cuyamaca Peak; pg 268  

14. Middle Peak, Cuyamaca Rancho Park; pg 266  

15.  Palomar Mountain: Boucher Hill-Thunder Spring Loop: not in book, on All Trails and other sites  

16. Mount Woodson; pgs 114-117 (multiple trails)  

17. Iron Mountain; pg 119  

18. Morena Butte (from PCT); pg 318  

19. Double Peak (San Marcos); pg 83  

20. McGinty Mountain; pg 194  

21. Black Mountain (Rancho Penasquitos); pgs 126-128 multiple trails  

22. Stonewall Peak: pg 270  

23. Mt. Nebo (Secret Stairs, La Mesa): not in book  

24. Monument Peak (PCT, Desert View Picnic Area); pg 300  

25. Corte Madera; pg 317  

26. Los Pinos Fire Lookout; not in book, an offshoot of the Corte Madera Trail.  http://hikingsdcounty.com/los-pinos-peak/Can be combined with Corte Madera or done as a separate hike. Not the same peak as listed in AllTrails in Orange County. Near the Espinosa Trail. Note that the gate can sometimes be locked and prevent reaching the Fire Outlook.     

27. Laguna Mountain Summit-Sunset Trail; pg 297  

28. Monserate Mountain; pg 74  

29. Hot Springs Mountain; pgs 231-232  

30. El Cajon Mountain; (half = 2000+ ft elevation gain/loss, if do full but go to both summits, El Cajon and El Capitan, can count as 2 peaks); pg 181   

31. Lawson Peak; pgs 312-313    

32. Mount Laguna/Sunrise Overlook (PCT south from Kwaaymii point; 700 ft elevation gain/loss); not in book  

33. PCT ridgeline (from KwaayMii Point north).  

34. Kitchen Creek Falls;pg 304  

35. Santa Ysabel Preserve Nature Center Trail, near Santa Ysabel Village; pg 242 (note that the Visitor’s center is new and not mentioned in book)  

36. Upper Santa Ysabel Preserve, near Julian, just past Vulcan Mountain trailhead, many different routes: pg 259   

37. Cedar Creek Falls (Thornbush road trailhead); pg 247  

38. Montezuma Valley Road to Eagle Rock- PCT;not in book  

39. Blue Sky Preserve to Ramona Dam;pg 113  

40. Blue Sky Preserve to Poway Lake loop; not in book. Many similar routes listed in All Trails.  

41. Elfin Forest Reserve(many differenttrails); pg 85-87  

42. El Monte Flume Trail; pg 169 (from El Monte Park, also a route from the Helix Historical District trailhead, open in Spring 2025 )  

43. Ellie Lane Loop; pg 118  

44. OakOasis; pg 177  

45. Oak and Spring Canyons: Mission Trails; not in book  

46. Hellhole Canyon County Preserve, Valley Center; pgs 97-98  

47. William Heise Desert View and Canyon Oak loop Trail; not in book      

48. Big Rock/Mesa Trail/Partial Cowles Mtn – from Big Rock Park; not in book  

49. Old Banner Toll Road-Julian; pg 256  5

0. Kelly Ditch Trail; pg 263  

51. Azalea Glenn Trail; Paso Picacho; pg 267  

52. Sweetwater Summit-Sweetwater Trail;pg 199  

53. Twin Peaks (from Silverset Park in Poway); pg 109   

54. Boden Canyon https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/boden-canyon--2  

55. Clevenger Canyon South https://modernhiker.com/hike/clevenger-canyon-south/,    

56. East Mesa Loop-Peak, Cuyamaca Rancho State Park ;pg 277  

57. Eagle Peak/Three Sisters Falls; pgs 250-252  

58. Calcite Mine and Slot Canyon Trail, Anza Borrego Desert;pgs 367-369  

59. Hellhole Canyon Trail to Maidenhair Falls, Anza Borrego Desert; pgs 341-342  

60. Palm Canyon, Anza Borrego Desert; https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/borrego-palm-canyon--5