On a sunny mid-October day I hiked up and over Sunrise Mountain.   From the trailhead at the end of Ronde Lane in Barnhartvale, the single track trail starts to climb up the north ridge of the mountain, then continues south climbing steeply for 2 km to the open mountaintop.   I continued down the south side of the hill to a gully, then I followed an old double track to the north end of GMS Hill and went up the ridge to the open hilltop, overlooking Barnhartvale.    On the way back I went farther west to avoid the rocky southeast slope of Sunrise. 

From the top of both Sunrise and GMS Hill there are open views of all four directions.   

Barnhartvale was below on the east side.     To the north is the South Thompson River with Harper Ranch lying below Harper Mountain.     To the northeast the view follows the South Thompson River Valley toward Martin Mountain above Pritchard.    Directly south are forested hills above the Campbell Creek Valley.     To the west is Sunset Mountain (Sunrise’s twin) and Rose Hill.   From some viewpoints we could see all the way to parts of Kamloops, 8 km west by northwest.   The eastern side of Sunrise Mountain drops off to Barnharvale, almost 1000 m below.   

Sunrise Mountain is not a long hike, but it is very steep.    It is arduous going up and going back down requires some caution.    With the hike over to GMS Hill and some exploration I was 4 hours on the trail.     Shared here are some photos in a slideshow, taken along the way.    For captions, click on any photo to go the Google Photos slideshow.

More information:

• Sunrise Mountain Hike (YouTube)