Sunrise Lakes and Sunrise High Sierra Camp TRAIL USE: Dayhike, Backpack, Horse LENGTH: 11.6 miles, 4-8 hours VERTICAL FEET: +1890''/-710''/±5200'' DIFFICULTY: 3 TRAIL TYPE: Out & Back FEATURES Backcountry Permit Lakes Streams Wildflowers Great Views Camping Swimming FACILITIES Restrooms, Bus Stop, Picnic Tables Considerable climbing at fairly high elevations would normally make this hike a moderate one, but its distance is so short for a backpack trip that it is rated easy. Some hikers go only as far as upper Sunrise Lake, only an 8-mile round trip and a good, moderate dayhike, although many are capable of doing the whole route in under a day. However, if you camp near Sunrise High Sierra Camp you are rewarded with a beautiful sunrise--the reason for the camp''s being situated where it is. Best TimeBecause of fairly high elevations, the trail can have snow patches even into mid-July, the soonest you''ll want to start. Lakes are near their optimal temperatures from early July through early August, so if you want to minimize mosquitoes and snow and enjoy dips in the lakes, then early August is best. To avoid crowds, backpack in mid- and late September. You can even go in early and mid-October, although then be prepared for cool days and subfreezing nights.

Finding the TrailThe trail begins on the Tioga Road at the Tenaya Lake trailhead parking area, at a highway bend near the lake''s southwest shore, located 30.5 miles northeast of Crane Flat and 8.5 miles southwest of the Tuolumne Meadows Campground. If you are driving east up the Tioga Road, you will pass the following campgrounds, the first three along spur roads: Tamarack Flat, White Wolf, Yosemite Creek, and Porcupine Flat. Trail DescriptionFrom the trailhead parking area near the southwest corner of Tenaya Lake, 1 take a trail that heads east, and you soon cross the usually flowing outlet of Tenaya Lake. Just beyond this crossing you reach a trail junction. The trail left goes northeast to start a loop around the lake, and then it continues another 7 miles to the Cathedral Lakes Trail in Tuolumne Meadows. You veer right on a trail that heads south for 0.

25 mile along Tenaya Creek. Over the next 0.5 mile your trail ascends southeast in sparse forest over a little rise and drops to a ford of Mildred Lake''s outlet, which, like the other streams between Tenaya Lake and the Sunrise Trail junction, can dry up in late season. Beyond the Mildred Lake stream the trail undulates and winds generally south, passing several pocket meadows browsed by mule deer. The trail then begins to climb in earnest, through a thinning cover of lodgepole pine and occasional red fir, western white pine, and mountain hemlock. As your trail rises above Tenaya Canyon, you pass several vantage points from which you can look back upon its polished granite walls, though you never see Tenaya Lake. To the east the canyon is bounded by Tenaya Peak; in the northwest are the cliffs of Mt. Hoffmann and Tuolumne Peak.

Now on switchbacks, you see the Tioga Road across the canyon and can even hear vehicles, but these annoyances are infinitesimal compared to the pleasures of polished granite expanses all around. These switchbacks are mercifully shaded, and where they become steepest, requiring a great out- put of energy, they give back the beauty of the finest flower displays on this trail, including lupine, penstemon, paintbrush, larkspur, buttercup, and sunflowers such as aster and senecio. Finally the switchbacks end and the trail levels as it arrives at a junction on a shallow, forested saddle. The trail ahead goes to Clouds Rest and beyond (Trail 17), but you turn left, and over 0.5 mile you first contour east, cross a low gap and descend north to lower Sunrise Lake. 3 Climbing from this lake and its small campsites, you reach a crest in several minutes, and from it you could descend cross-country an equally short distance north to more isolated, island-dotted middle Sunrise Lake. Your loop trail, however, veers east and gains a very noticeable 150 feet in elevation as it climbs to upper Sunrise Lake, the largest and most popular lake of the trio. Campsites are plentiful along its north shore, away from the trail.

With 1.7 miles remaining to your day''s goal, you leave this lake and climb south up a gully, cross it, then soon climb up a second gully to the east side of a broad gap, from which you see the Clark Range head-on, piercing the southern sky. From the gap, which is sparsely clothed with mountain hemlocks, whitebark pines, and western white pines, you descend south into denser cover, veer east, and then veer north to make a steep descent to a backpackers'' camp. By walking briefly north from it you''ll reach Sunrise High Sierra Camp. An overnight stay at either camp gives you an inspiring sunrise over Matthes Crest and the Cathedral Range.