Stuart Fork — Emerald & Sapphire Lakes
Trinity Alps Wilderness, Trinity Center · near Trinity Center · Shasta Cascade
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 28 miles
- Elevation gain
- 3,600 ft
- Time needed
- multi-day
- Best season
- July–September · Snow lingers in the high cirque into July
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- Yes
- How the permit works
- Free self-issue Trinity Alps Wilderness permit for overnight; a California Campfire Permit for stove/fire. Bear canister strongly advised (active bears at Morris Meadows).
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Granite cirque & glacial tarns · Sawtooth Ridge views · Morris Meadows · Stuart Fork river-grade approach
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- A mileage grind, not a scramble — the first 8 miles are nearly flat, then it steepens. Filter water freely (the Stuart Fork runs the whole way) and carry a bear canister.
The guide
The definitive Trinity Alps backpack. A long, gentle river-canyon walk through Morris Meadows delivers you to a granite headwal…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Stuart Fork — Emerald & Sapphire Lakes — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 40.9545, -122.665