Kuchamaa

Tecate Peak, known to the Kumeyaay as Kuchamaa, is a rugged granite mountain rising 3,885 feet beside the International Border in southern San Diego County. The nominated district takes in 510 acres from the 3,000-foot contour to the summit. Its importance is religious. According to Kumeyaay tradition, the creator god Maiha selected the mountain, and it became the place where shamans gained knowledge and power and instructed their initiates. Vision quests, purification rites and prayers at the full moon and equinoxes continue today, and people from other Native groups in southern California and Baja California also visited. The mountain has been altered by a road built in the late 1930s and by communications buildings first placed on the summit in 1942, which is why the period of significance ends that year. Kumeyaay opposition stopped a power line route in 1979 and a park proposal in 1981. The peak was listed for its association with Native American religious heritage.