Secret on the Mount: 'Quad-Busting' Public Stairways are Heaven to Hikers

Diane Herrera often sits out on her deck, enjoying the views toward Point Loma and Cowles Mountain. Sometimes she'll check out the view below as people trudge up and down La Mesa's "Secret Stairs."

"I'll watch and wave," she says. "A lot of people stop about halfway up. I'll talk to them."

Five years ago—before she moved into her home on Sheldon Drive in the Mount Nebo/Windsor Hills area of La Mesa—Herrera had never heard of the stairs. She's not alone. Even some longtime La Mesans aren't aware of the steps, much less climbed them.

But Herrera's house is adjacent to the longest section of stairs, which begins near the intersection of Windsor and Canterbury drives.

Now she can't help but watch people go up and down. They chug right past her as she relaxes on her deck or works in her yard. Some days the traffic is light—as it was on a sunny day earlier this week—and some days it's heavy, particularly on weekends when groups use the stairs as a workout challenge.

"There can be lots of traffic in the early mornings," Herrera says. "Sometimes it wakes me up. A lot of people come out on weekends, all day. A lot of families.

"An exercise group recently started using it. ... It's like a boot camp. They really push those people."

Three sets of stairs

Three sets of public stairs beckon in the area, each with its own history.

The first—and longest, at 245 steps—begins near the intersection of Windsor and Canterbury.  The climb ends at the top of Mount Nebo on Summit Drive after crossing two streets—Sheldon Drive and Summit Drive (which continues up the hill).

Upon reaching the top, walkers must turn to their left and go about 100 yards around the curve of Summit Drive to reach the top of the second section, which is 184 steps down to Beverly Drive (crossing Valle Drive along the way).

The third—and shortest, at 60 steps—begins on Fairview Avenue near Alta Lane, crossing Pasadena Avenue.

At the entrance to each set is a small green "Caution Steps" sign, with a figure of a walking person descending steps. They can be hard to find if you're not certain what you're looking for. The steps are concrete—in good shape, considering their age—with metal handrails most of the way, a good thing considering the steep inclines.

To residents in the area, the steps not only provide a great place for a workout, but also a great way to get around.

"It's a neat facility that connects the hillsides together," says Greg Humora, La Mesa's director of public works. "The stairs are a shortcut at the midpoint of the block, and as the crow flies, it's the shortest way to walk into town."

Residents atop Mount Nebo, for instance, can walk to The Village in minutes just by heading down the longest set of stairs to Windsor Drive, taking a right a couple of blocks to Vista Drive and taking the stairs down to Fairview Avenue, just two blocks from La Mesa Boulevard.

Local author Jerry Schad, an expert on hiking in San Diego County, once wrote that the trio of concrete trails "may be the county's most secret set of stairs." In fact, this page on the city's website simply refers to the several sets of public stairways in the area as "Secret Stairs."

Humora says the stairs are publicly maintained and get "a decent amount" of use.

"I talk to a bunch of people who use them, mostly as exercise," he says. In fact, the stairs are incorporated into the city's most difficult of three designated urban walking trails, a 3.5-mile route called "The Challenge."

Their history

So how long have the steps been around? Who built them? And why were they built?

For the most part, the steps are a remnant of the time of Babe Ruth, Prohibition and Art Deco. The two longest sections were part of the Windsor Hills subdivision that went in about 1927, says James Newland, a local author and historian.

City records confirm those stairs were built about that time. The shortest section, off Fairview, is even older—built about 1912 or '13.

Public-access staircases were not uncommon in developments of that era, as were other "high-end" items such as streetlights, Newland says. He points to similar stairs in the Rolando area of San Diego.

Hundreds of such staircases exist in San Francisco, for instance, with many others in West Coast cities, including Portland and Los Angeles. (A website, publicstairs.com, is devoted to public staircases across America and the world.)

"In the 1920s [Windsor Hills] was considered a high-end suburban development,"  Newland says. "It was competing with similar [San Diego] developments in Talmadge and Kensington."

The Mount Nebo/Windsor Hills area, with its unobstructed views—the elevation at the summit is 830 feet—was prime real estate as La Mesa grew and attracted new residents.  Developer Sherman C. Grable, who bought land in the area in the early 1900s, named the highest point Mount Nebo. According to an article in San Diego Jewish World, lots in the area with views sold for $200 about 1908.

Today, walkers who decide to climb the stairs can get the same views for nothing (besides their effort).

On a clear day, the Pacific Ocean, downtown San Diego and La Jolla are visible to the west from the top of Summit Drive. To the east are views of Mount Helix, Grossmont Center and the mountains beyond.

Along the way, up and down, you'll see hummingbirds, fruit trees, flowers, cats and dogs, walkers and runners and every type of backyard landscaping.

"A great workout"

Humora notes that the stairs aren't the only such public stairways in La Mesa. In 1991, a set of 37 steps was built at the end of Sarita Street.

But it's the "Secret Stairs" of Mount Nebo that hold the most appeal. Various local fitness blogs describe the stair climbs as "quad-busting," "challenging" and "killer."

Herrera, who likes to talk to stair-climbers from her deck, also uses the stairs for exercise, calling it "a great workout." So does Nona Neil, a resident of the neighborhood who says she does the stairs "three or four times a week."

Neil, a night nurse, says she uses the stairs as part of her overall walking workouts through the entire neighborhood.

Since moving in, Herrera has found the "Secret Stairs" to be a plus. They provide a little activity and variety to the area, and she says her neighbors seem to enjoy the stairs, too.

The only drawback?

When exercisers are a bit too early and a bit too loud.

Herrera remembers the time two women were yelling back and forth to each other about 5:30 a.m. one weekend—and she had to go outside to remind them it was 5:30 in the morning.

"I came out and asked them to keep it down," she says. "But other than that, all you usually hear is huffing and puffing."