Kwaay Paay Peak P300 SDC

Dec 25, 2008

With: Jackie Burd

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Kwaay Paay is an unofficially named peak within the San Diego City limits. It lands on the Sierra Club's SDC for somewhat dubious reasons (the only one I can discern is its ease of access) and is quite popular with the local population, even on rainy Christmas days, as we came to find out. I talked my daughter into joining me for this easy outing, her once-a-year peak climb with Dad. Her brother has a much better taste for this sort of activity, but she was a good sport about it, never complaining, even as rain had dampened us before we returned to the car.

We found the trailhead off Mission Gorge Road northeast of the summit next to a residential area, providing access to both the peak and nearby Mission Dam and Flume Historic Site. Starting off on the paved road closed to vehicle traffic, we turned left at the first opportunity to take a sometimes muddy trail up towards the summit. Steep and slippery in places, Jackie was able to negotiate the trail with finesse unlike Dad who managed to slip a few times and land on his butt. The highpoint of the summit was hard to discern once we reached the top, as it is fairly flat with a handful of slight bumps vying for the privilege. We hit one after another until we came to one with a good rock for sitting and having a snack we'd brought with us. The views were dismal this day due to cloud cover in all directions, and our stay was short as we did not want to press our luck too much. We were happy to have the rain showers break for most of our outing, starting up again when we were a few hundred feet from the trailhead. I noted nearby Pyles Peak and Fortuna Mtn that I might also have climbed had I been by myself, but these could always be saved for the next year when Jackie might once again patronize her father and join him for a hike.


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