Big Rock Park — Attraction in Santee

I had a great time hiking up this trail. A huge plus is the abundance of shade at least halve of the time. It took around an hour to get up and an hour to get down. (Guide books may say three hours but that would be at a slower pace than almost all the hikers I saw) This is the East side of the Cowls mountain and the third possible way up to the peak. You won't be able to see downtown or the main parts of San Diego city for the most part going up this trail, as you would on the most popular and most crowded trail on the south side of the mountain. On the other hand you get great views of the enormous landscape of mountains surrounding the city, which you don't get on the south trail. I think this is the best way up the mountain if you are taking kids. Because of the shade on a large part of the trail even during the hottest midday hours, and also because it's the least steep trail (other than at the very end on the service road) and well serviced with wooden steps. There are several parts on the trails where you can veer off. For example, about a fifth way up the mountain you can take another trail to to Lake Murray! Imagine hiking up and down the mountain followed by a picnic at...

I love that this park has a playground for little kids and the other half for big kids but you can sit and watch both. The tiny river behind where you sit is a nice change of scenery in case you want to throw rocks at the water with your kids but not enough for them to get too wet or drown. It's inside a really quiet and safe neighborhood between a gated school and a nice dirt trail for an easy hike. Theres a really big grassy area to let your well-mannered dogs play without a leash (not a gated park tho), a volleyball net on sand next to a full court basketball and a bathroom on site in front of a large concrete area with lots of stone tables and benches. In the back of the park is the busiest part where there's a court that people play tennis, raquetball and pickleball all year round. This park has been amazingly well kept. Such a nice community and hard working...

Great space for kids, adults, and animals! Lots of trees, a covered area with several picnic tables with benches as well as spread out picnic tables aroundthe park, a spread out play area that has sections for different ages...meaning small slides and climbing areas and bigger slides and jungle gym areas. Lots of grassy area, tennis courts, basketball court, paved sidewalk all around, volleyball court, creek which has tad poles and frogs when flowing, and pretty well kept bathrooms open during "park hours" right by the parking lot. It does have light poles around it, so if you are there towards or past sunset -you're not in the dark. Good place to start on trails that go around the meadowy area and up into Cowles Mountain. Parking lot is a little small but there is plenty of street parking...