East Fortuna Staging Area, Santee CA

Love starting here when we are going for a Mountain Bike ride. Clean bathrooms and a bike tool station.

Bummer it doesn't open til 8 am (usually earlier but not officially), but always plenty of parking away from the crowds of Cowels

Beautiful walk through grasslands and oak studded chaparral. Easy to moderate strolling or if interested, more distant, and challenging hill climbs.

Great trailhead for walking to the grasslands loop, Fortuna trails and others. Easy and flat, its great for all ages and great for dogs.

Many trails to select from, easy to not so easy.
This area does have a small visitor center (not sure if manned), well maintained running water restrooms, a fair amount of parking inside the circle on either side -the further has horse pins to unload into; as well as street parking leading up to it, a fair amount of circular and rectangular picnic tables, trash and recycling bins around the parking/picnic areas as well on the trails.
Just be mindful of when it last rained as there will be water flowing or sitting on the trails that you'll need to get around, some trails do have crossover points.

Great east county location to hike. So many different routes you can take based on the level of difficulty.