Lake Murray is a reservoir located at the confluence of the borders of La Mesa, San Diego, and Santee. It is part of Mission Trails Regional Park which includes great hiking opportunities and a set of five peaks to climb.
There is a path around Lake Murray but it does not create a full loop as the area around the dam is closed to the public – it’s about 3 miles start to finish, so 6 miles in total if you do an out and back. Lake Miramar was once similarly closed but reopened the full loop – hopefully Lake Murray will one day do the same. There are a wide assortment of ducks and other birds that you can find in the water, although a local rule prohibits feeding them. 🙁
I took my two children to Lake Murray this week and brought along my bike and our 2-seat Burley trailer to give them a ride on the out and back path around the lake. It’s mostly flat and has some nice trees lining the path in certain areas. Below are some photos of the scenery and the ride profile (elevation, distance, duration) from my Strava recording.
Lake Murray has a number of places to access the trail, I usually enter from Kiowa Street on the south side of the Lake, off of Lake Murray Boulevard, the address for GPS is 5540 Kiowa Drive, La Mesa, CA 91942.
This is a great place to have a picnic, walk, jog, or bike. Cowles Mountain is also very close so you could do a hike there in the morning and then relax at the lake afterwards. Fishing is also popular and there are kayaks for rent, but swimming is not allowed in the reservoir.
Final Comments:
- Path Enhancement – If you know who to contact or what needs to be done to open the full loop around the reservoir please let me know, I’d love to see this asset enhanced with a full loop option and access to a greater portion of the shoreline.
- Burley bicycle trailer – We’ve had our Burley D’Lite trailer for more than 5 years. It is amazing and a huge help with grocery shopping, taking the kids to the park, etc. They’re pretty spendy new, about $700 but we bought ours for $150 on Craigslist and it’s great. Highly recommended if you have young kids, I also know people that use them for dogs and enjoy.
