This weekend, my fiance wanted to get out for some fresh air, and take in the beautiful San Diego Weather before a week of rain is headed our way.

We decided to hike Kwaay Paay Peak at Mission trails, which is right around the corner from a longer hike we did this past December, North and South Fortune.

Kwaay Paay is a great short hike at just under 3 miles round trip, which rewards you with some magnificent views of San Diego.

Maps and Elevation Profile

You can get to the trailhead on Google maps here.

The Caltopo Kwaay Paay map above can be found here.

Trail Guide

Kwaay Paay has a couple of different trailheads that you can choose, we honestly chose this one because it was the closest one to where we could find parking. On a Sunday morning, the parking was a bit crowded but the trail wasn't too packed.

If you live in Southern California, you know it's super green right now and all the flowers are blooming everywhere! The hike this past Sunday was amazing because everything was so green!

The one downfall to recent rains is that they can turn everything green and beautiful is that the rain can chew up a trail pretty good, but Kwaay Paay Trail was in great shape and was not too difficult of terrain.

Kwaay Paay isn't crazy steep, but it is pretty steady and doesn't really have any switchbacks, so once you get up the first small finger and start the steeper part it's climbing with not much of a rest until you get to the peak. Its basically straight to the top and not meandering much.

Once you get to Kwaay Paay Peak, the views are absolutely stunning, especially if you have a perfectly clear day as we did!

After enjoying the reviews, rehydrating and relaxing we headed down and got back to my Jeep pretty quickly. Kwaay Paay was a perfect short hike with rewarding views, and I recomend it to anyone looking to get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors but not wanting to dedicate an entire day to a hike.

We didn't take to many pictures on the way up, but here are some pictures on the way down to give you an idea of the steepness you would experience on Kwaay Paay going up.

You can find other hikes nearby this one here.