Hike of the Week: Sunrise Lake
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| Larches cast a golden glow on Sunrise Lake |
Sunrise Lake
Golden larches provide the perfect setting
by Craig Romano
photo by Craig Romano
produced by Michael Fagin
October 13, 2006
Quick Facts
Location: North Cascades-Sawtooth Ridge
Land Agency: (US Forest Service) Okanogan National Forest
Roundtrip: 13.0 miles
Elevation gain: 3,600 feet
Access: From Twisp head south on SR 153. Just beyond Carleton turn right on Gold Creek Loop. Proceed to Gold Creek Road which becomes FR 4340. At Foggy Dew Campground turn right onto FR spur 200 and follow to its end at the Foggy Dew Trailhead.
Green Trails Map: Prince Creek, WA- No. 115
Notes: Hunting season has begun, wear orange.
Sunrise Lake sits high in the Sawtooth Ridge-a long, lofty and jagged chain of peaks between Lake Chelan and the Methow Valley. Almost 150,000 acres of this rugged and beautiful country is protected as the Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness Area. Another 100,000 acres remains road-less, but unfortunately it is not free from motors.
However, don’t let the presence of a few motorbikes discourage you from exploring the southern reaches of this supreme part of the North Cascades. A dozen dazzling alpine lakes occupy the high cirques of the southern Sawtooth peaks. Each lake is surrounded by stands of larch trees causing them to glow come October. Spring and Manning refer to this area as the Golden Lakes. Right now, they truly are. Sunrise Lake should help shed some light on you to the beauty of this region.
Start by hiking up the Foggy Dew Trail 5 miles to its junction with the Martin Lakes Trail. This path is wide and well groomed-not too dusty-and not too difficult to walk. Beyond the junction, the Foggy Dew Trail is closed to motorcycles, so rejoice! Now enjoy 1.5 miles of solitude and spectacular scenery as the trail climbs steeply to the high meadows of Merchants Basin. Turn off the main path here onto the Sunrise Lake Trail and wind your way through a canopy of larches gently snowing golden needles on the tread. Enter a wide cirque flanked by craggy 8,000-foot summits and embrace Sunrise Lake twinkling below them. The larches in their full fall regalia add a golden aura to the calm cool waters of this alpine gem.
On your retreat back from this wild corner of the Sawtooths, consider Katharine Tynan’s poem, Foggy Dew which shares the name of this trail.
Mayrone! If I might feel now the dew on my face,
And the wind from the mountains in that remembered place,
I’d give the wealth of London, if mine it were to do,
And I’d travel home to Ireland and the foggy dew.
Replace Seattle for London, and North Cascades for Ireland, and you’ve got yourself a nice little verse to recite after a glorious hike to Sunrise Lake.
