On the first day of hiking on the snow, we chose to climb Sunrise Mountain, sometimes called Middle Mountain.   This steep ridge looms over the west side of Barnhartvale.   It can be hiked from different starting points, but the classic route is on a good single track from the north side.  From Todd Road, turn onto Ronde Lane and park at the end.   A single track trail veers off to the northwest from the last driveway.   Follow it out to a viewpoint on the ridge, and from there, the trail follows the spine of the ridge up the mountain.   The trail is steep in many places which makes this more of a challenge in the snow.   As you climb, views extend down the valley east and west.

Near the top, the last section becomes very steep and there is no visible trail, but we normally just work our way up the last section, winding through the rock bluffs. On this occasion, we followed a single track over to the west gully. We had placed flagging tape there this summer to mark the point where it goes into the gully. The gully separates Sunrise Mountain from Sunset Hill. Follow an open track south, then start to climb west up the slopes. There is no trail to follow, but the forest is open and the there are no steep sections. We saw that this will make a good snowshoe route in winter. Continue to the top and go over to the west side for views over to Rose Hill and beyond.   All photos by the author.    Click an image for a lightbox view.

We came back down the same way we went up for this trip, but will return in winter on snowshoes, taking the gully to the west (Zilch route) up and back, easier in the snow.

Even though the mountains are near to two communities (Barnhartvale and Juniper), the upper slopes of Sunrise and Sunset have a wilderness feel to them, a result of steep and rocky terrain and difficult access.   If you hike in this area, you will probably see deer or coyotes, but otherwise, you will be all alone.