Cooney Lake, Sunrise Lake — Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025

I did a lollipop loop from the Foggy Dew TH, hitting Sunrise Lake first, then going through Merchants Basin up to Sawtooth Ridge, then going down to Cooney Lake, then using the Martin Creek trail to connect back to the Foggy Dew trail. It’s a little over 17 miles and about 4,700 elevation gain. There was just one blowdown, which was easy to get around.

Larches are at peak at Sunrise Lake and were beautiful glowing in the late morning sun. Larches at Cooney Lake are not yet at peak, as you can see from the “from above” photo.

I arrived to four cars in the parking lot at 7:30 am. I saw a couple backpacking parties headed out the Foggy Dew trail this morning. No one was at Sunrise Lake when I was there. I passed about a dozen mountain bikers climbing up the steep trail up from Cooney as I was going down, and five trail runners also cruised down it while I was slowly picking my way down. There were five bikers taking a break at Cooney, but I didn’t see anyone else there or any tents. The benefit of going on a Sunday! I saw two bikers on the Martin Creek Trail, and those were the last people I saw for the day. There were two other cars in the lot when I was done.

Privy is unlocked (and will remain so during the shutdown since the door has no lock!), but TP is dwindling.

#HikeTheState