10 Places Worth Your Time in San Carlos and Del Cerro

Every city has a hill its people climb for the view, and in San Diego it's Cowles Mountain. The summit sits at 1,592 feet, the highest point in the city of San Diego, and the Golfcrest route starts from a street corner in San Carlos, where Golfcrest Drive meets Navajo Road. That's why Cowles Mountain via Golfcrest tops this list: nothing else here matches it for the experience itself or for being one of a kind, and you reach the city's high point on foot, straight from the neighborhood.

The mountain has a little history on its slopes. It's named for George A. Cowles, a rancher and businessman in San Diego County in the 1870s and 1880s. In 1931, about 500 students from what was then San Diego State College painted a 400-foot letter S on its side. The S was covered during World War II, and the repainting tradition ended in the 1970s for environmental reasons.

On paper, the route looks short: 1.5 miles to the top with 950 feet of elevation gain. That gain comes quickly, over loose rock and cut steps with almost no shade. Mission Trails rates it a 3 for difficulty and pitches it at mid-level hikers with proper footwear and water, and that's the right way to think about it. The payoff at the summit is a 360-degree panorama of San Diego County.

Plan the morning around parking and sun. The trailhead lot at Golfcrest is small and fills early, and with so little shade on the climb, an early start makes sense on both counts. Save real time for the descent, too, since loose rock and steps deserve patience on the way down. Dogs can come along on a leash no longer than 8 feet, and everyone needs to stay on authorized trails. Mission Trails posts park gate hours of 8 AM to 5 PM from November through March and 8 AM to 7 PM from April through October.

Then come down and eat. The Trails Eatery on Jackson Drive is about 10 minutes away, and after 950 feet of loose rock and steps, Sin-A-Mon Roll Pancakes count as earned.

If Cowles is the climb, the Lake Murray road is the stroll. This flat, paved road follows Murray Reservoir for about 3.2 miles out to the dam gate, so the full out-and-back comes to about 6.4 miles alongside the water, with no summit in sight.

That flat pavement is why it ranks second. It works for the widest range of people on this list: walkers, joggers, cyclists and rollerbladers all share the road, strollers roll along easily, and it's a good stretch for teaching a kid to ride a bike. The road traces roughly two-thirds of the shoreline before it turns back at the dam gate, and regulars like how the view shifts with the water level from season to season. The reservoir itself goes back to 1894, when it opened as La Mesa Reservoir. It was renamed in 1920 for James Andrew Murray, the majority owner of the Cuyamaca Water Company.

Anglers get a real fishery here: largemouth bass, sunfish, catfish, crappie, trout and carp. Permits are $10 for adults 16 to 65, $7 for seniors 65 and up and $5 for youth 8 to 15, paid in cash or check only, and anyone 16 or older also needs a California fishing license. Boats, canoes, kayaks and float tubes are allowed on the water, while swimming, wading and stand-up paddleboards are off the table. The water level is restricted for dam safety, and when it sits between 80 and 86 feet the private boat launch ramp is unavailable, so boaters should check conditions before towing anything over.

The reservoir is open daily from sunrise to sunset, and it closes on the second Tuesday of every month plus Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Restrooms, water fountains, picnic tables and gas barbecue areas make it easy to stay a while. The address to plug in is 5540 Kiowa Drive.

Sobremesa is the word for the time spent lingering at the table after a meal, talking and enjoying the company, and this restaurant on Lake Murray Boulevard is built on that idea. Its Latin American kitchen is led by chef Oscar Torres, who came from the Michelin-starred Animalón, and it's the dinner in San Carlos and Del Cerro most worth booking ahead.

The menu is made for passing around, with shareable plates built on fresh seafood and spices from across Latin America. Start with Shrimp Aguachile, Tamales de Elote and the Brussels Sprouts Esquite in the middle of the table. The Tableside Ribeye Asado is the big move, and La Tablita is built for two. Aperitivos run $15 to $22 and platos fuertes $23 to $48, so plan on a proper sit-down night.

The room has a modern desert-inspired design, and the mood shifts over the evening. Early on it's relaxed and family-friendly. Later it turns into more of a lounge, with cocktails taking over. That makes the timing part of the choice: bring the kids at 5, bring your friends at 8.

Service windows vary through the week. Dinner runs daily from 4 to 10 PM, brunch runs Friday through Sunday from 9 AM to 3 PM, and happy hour runs Sunday through Thursday from 4 to 6 PM. After a walk at Lake Murray, the 4 PM opening is the easy handoff from trail clothes to dinner, and weekend brunch is a slow start before an afternoon outside. Sobremesa sits right behind the two big outdoor plans because it's the meal that makes the day feel complete.

Mission Trails Regional Park is big. It spans more than 8,000 acres with about 60 miles of trails, the San Diego River runs through it, and it all sits about eight miles northeast of downtown. The park got its start in 1974, and the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor and Interpretive Center is where to make sense of it. The 14,000-square-foot center at 1 Father Junipero Serra Trail is free, open daily, and the smartest first stop for anyone who hasn't picked a trail yet.

Inside, exhibits cover the park's history and the plant and animal communities that live here. There's a library, rotating art displays and a gift shop that sells printed trail maps, which come in handy in a park this size. The building looks out over Mission Gorge, so the view is part of the visit.

Volunteers run the front desk, and they're the people to ask about what fits your time and energy. The 94-seat theater is temporarily closed, so build the visit around the exhibits and the advice at the desk. It's an especially good start for groups with different energy levels, since everyone can leave with a plan that suits them.

Hours are 9 AM to 5 PM every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Kumeyaay Lake Campground sits on the same road at 2 Father Junipero Serra Trail, and Old Mission Dam is part of the same outing, so the center anchors a Mission Trails morning nicely: exhibits first, then the dam, then a trail.

More than two centuries ago, Kumeyaay labor built a dam of stone and cement to store water for Mission San Diego de Alcalá, about 5 miles from the mission site. Old Mission Dam still stands in Mission Gorge, inside Mission Trails Regional Park, and it's the one stop on this list where San Diego's mission era is right in front of you.

The dimensions are modest and the story is big. As built, the dam ran about 220 feet long and 12 feet high, and a flume, also built with Kumeyaay labor, carried the water toward the mission's fields. It was the first major colonial-era irrigation project on the Pacific coast of the United States. California named it a historical landmark in 1932, and it became a National Historic Landmark on May 21, 1963.

Seeing it takes about 20 minutes. It's a short, flat walk from the lot, with no shade on the approach, so bring water on warm days. The lot fills at peak times and follows the park's gate schedule, opening at 8 AM and closing at 5 PM from November through March and 7 PM from April through October. Access can change, so check current Mission Trails route notices before you head out.

The best order is Visitor Center first for the backstory, then the dam as your second stop. The center gives you the whole park, the dam gives you one story up close, and for mission-era history nothing else on this list comes close.

Coming down off Cowles hungry? The Trails Eatery on Jackson Drive is the San Carlos breakfast spot about 10 minutes from the trailhead, and it has been around since 2007. Stacey Poon Kinney is the chef, and the house tagline, Quality Ingredients, Vintage Hospitality, sums up the approach.

The menu does sweet and savory in equal measure. On the sweet side, the Sin-A-Mon Roll Pancakes and the Lemon Berry Frenchie are house specialties. For savory, look to the Healthy Hash, the Bene Asada or the Crab Cake Benedict. There's lunch and a boozy brunch on the menu too, in case the hike earned it.

The gluten-free program is detailed: a separate gluten-free menu, a designated grill, color-coded utensils and gluten-free zones in the kitchen. The restaurant is also upfront that cross-contact can still happen, so talk through serious allergies when you order.

Service is counter-style. Order and pay at the register, take a table number, and the food comes out to you inside or on the patio, where dogs are allowed. Weekend late mornings fill both the room and the patio, and the kitchen closes at 2 PM every day, so the early trail crowd has the right idea.

KnB Bistro packs a bottle shop, a bar and a scratch kitchen into one building on Del Cerro Boulevard, and it makes an easy Del Cerro evening. The bar pours 32 beers on tap, the shop side has wall-to-wall liquor and in-house tastings, and there's a patio for sitting outside. The fun of the setup is that you can drink one bottle at the table and carry another one home.

The kitchen keeps things broad and easy to share: an Ahi Poke Bowl, a BBQ Chicken Flatbread, a Cobb Salad, a Cheeseburger. Figure roughly $20 to $30 a head. Happy hour runs from 3 to 5 PM, and that's the move after a morning outside. Pick a tap and put a flatbread or a bowl in the middle of the table.

The shop opens at 9 AM daily, before the kitchen starts, and the restaurant keeps its own schedule, opening earlier on weekends. Hours can shift with how busy it is, so check the closing time before planning a late stop. Where The Trails Eatery owns the morning, KnB takes the afternoon and evening half of the day.

Some nights the plan is simply the game. San Diego Brewing Co., in the Friars Village center at 10450 Friars Rd in Grantville, is set up for exactly that, with 22 large TVs and 50 local craft beers on tap. It's the one stop on this list in Grantville, just next door to San Carlos.

Those 50 taps make it the easy answer for a group that can't agree on one thing to drink, and spirits, cocktails and wine cover everyone else. For the friend who doesn't care about the score, there's Golden Tee, classic pinball and a TouchTunes jukebox. The menu is family-friendly, so it works for an early dinner with the kids as well as a later game with friends.

The doors open at 11 AM every day, and Friday and Saturday run an hour later than the rest of the week. The kitchen closes an hour before the bar every night, so get the food order in before a game heads into extra innings. Kumeyaay Lake Campground, next on the list, is a weekend plan. The brewery works any night of the week, which makes it an easy call after a late-afternoon walk at Lake Murray.

Here's a San Diego surprise: you can pitch a tent inside the city limits. Kumeyaay Lake Campground has 46 sites beside a small lake at the north end of Mission Trails, and each site comes with its own fire ring. For a first night of camping, it keeps the outdoors close to home.

The schedule is what to plan around. Overnight camping runs Friday and Saturday nights only, and Monday through Thursday the campground is day-use. Sites cost $22.78 a night, and reservations and fees are cashless, so have a credit card, debit card or gift card ready. Cancellations need 14 days' notice, so book the weekend you actually mean to keep.

Fires go only in the provided fire rings, and only when current rules allow them. The campground sits at 2 Father Junipero Serra Trail, the same road as the Visitor Center, so a Saturday can run from exhibits to Old Mission Dam to your own campfire. It's a two-nights-a-week plan, and on those nights it's the only place on this list where the day ends in a sleeping bag.

Sei Sushi is a small sushi counter on Navajo Road in San Carlos, and it's the relaxed weeknight dinner on this list. The move is one of the tasting sets. The Tuna Lover's Sashimi puts O-Toro, Chu-Toro and bluefin side by side, and the Salmon Lover's Nigiri runs from salmon and salmon belly to a truffle-seared piece and salmon-wrapped ikura.

The rolls have a sense of humor. Rich Chris, Swim Shady and Bunito are all on the menu, and there are rice bowls, noodles, salads, sake and beer for the rest of the table. The menu is subject to availability and the seasons, so a favorite can come and go.

Plan around the split service. Monday through Thursday, the counter serves lunch from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM, closes for the afternoon, then reopens from 4:30 to 8:30 PM. Friday and Saturday run to 9 PM, and Sunday runs from noon to 8:30 PM.

Hang on to the receipt. It gets you a discount at R&B Tea San Carlos, the sister shop in the same plaza, for anyone at the table who still wants something sweet.