California trails · Cone-Hay Mdws Caribou
Cone-Hay Mdws Caribou
A 10.4-mile out-and-back in California, with 733 ft of climbing. Reaches Cone Lake and other lake destinations. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Elevation profile
Most of the climbing sits in the first third — 71% of the ascent, between mile 0.0 and mile 3.5. It gives back about 344 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Cone Lake (lake)
- Twin Lakes (lake)
- Black Lake (lake)
- South Divide Lake (lake)
- North Divide Lake (lake)
- Triangle Lake (lake)
- Turnaround Lake (lake)
- Long Lake (lake)
Heads up
Getting there
CONE LAKE TRAILHEAD — parking nearby. 40.55139, -121.20331 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On August 31, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 6:02 a.m., the sun rises at 6:30 a.m. and sets at 7:38 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 8:06 p.m. (PDT) — 13 h 08 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 20.7-mile round trip takes roughly 8 h 25 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 2:55 p.m. — 4 h 43 min before sunset.
Loop options
- INDIAN MEADOW + HIDDEN LAKES CARIBOU + CONE-HAY MDWS CARIBOU — 3.1 mi loop, 443 ft gain
- HIDDEN LAKES CARIBOU + CONE-HAY MDWS CARIBOU — 6.0 mi loop, 541 ft gain
- POSEY-BEAUTY CARIBOU + CONE-HAY MDWS CARIBOU — 6.7 mi loop, 545 ft gain