Distance: 5.84 miles .Elevation Gain: 1200 feet. Time to complete: 2 -3 hours roundtrip
To get to the trail head: Take Highway 78 towards Julian. As you are getting close to the town of Julian from the west you can take Wynola Road, right next to Jeremy’s on the Hill. Take a left onto Wynola Road and follow it down into a little valley until you can turn left onto Farmer Road. On you right side you should see the trailhead for Volcan Mountain.
To start the hike, walk back along the road from the trail head until you see the Volcan Mountain Entrance. Go through the entrance and check out the sign for maps that you can take with you and information on the surrounding wildlife and flora for the area. Head up the fire road / trail, in a little more then 1/2 mile into the hike you should come across the trail sign for Five Oaks Trail, I would suggest that you take this trail, it really adds some life to the trail that you will not experience on the road, for that matter I would suggest that you come back this way as well. Keep following the Five Oaks Trail for about 1.2 miles until it connects back into the regular trail. You should see the mid summit sign pointing you in the right direction. Take a right and head up the hill, in about .3 miles you should come across the Summit Gate, which is only open from April through October on weekends and major holidays. In another .3 miles you should reach the top of the hill with the road heading off to the right towards the top of the hill.
There is another road / trail to the left, but this area is closed off to the public. On the right side of the road you will see a lone chimney, all that remains of an outpost built between 1928 and 1932 when the area of Volcan Mountain was being evaluated as a potential site for the Hale Telescope. Polomar Mountain was eventually chosen as the site for the Hale Telescope which went into operation for the first time in 1949. Continue on up the mountain for about .7 miles on the road and you will reach the peak. Take your time and meander along the side of the road looking down into the desert below, the San Jacinto Mountains off in the distance. If you take the trail as it makes a round about on the peak you should see a nice wooden bench that makes the perfect place to sit down, enjoy a bite and look out onto the town of Julian and south towards the Cuyamaca Peak and Stonewall Peak.
Around the same area you will see a tower in the middle of the roundabout, this the all that remains of a an Airway Light Beacon that was used in the Airway Light Beacon Systems that consisted of some 2000 beacons placed 15 to 25 miles apart. This system was developed in the 1920’s by the Post Office Department for use by its Airmail pilots. This system was later transferred to the Bureau of Lighthouses in the Commerce Department. On a clear night you could see these beacons up to 40 miles away, by 1946 the beacons where serving 124 airways across the United States until the 1970’s when rapid changes in electronic technology rendered the beacons obsolete.
Weather forecast for the Volcan Mountain Hike:
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