Hike Round Top and Elephants Back Stanislaus National Forest, CA

Aug 09, 2024 — Round Top is the highest point within the beautiful Mokelumne Wilderness, a high-prominence peak with a short scramble required to reach its summit. Often, this peak is reached from Woody Lake to the north, but I decided to start at Kit Carson Pass to extend the hike and also more easily include a detour to Elephant's Back on my return.

I left the busy parking lot and followed the PCT south through the forest for a while, a very popular stretch of trail. Emerging from the forest, I was thrilled to see sweeping meadows covered with wildflowers stretching all the way to the base of Round Top. I reached a junction, keeping right along the Carson Pass/Lake Winnemucca Connector Trail. The trail was mostly flat until I approached Winnemucca Lake, nestled at the base of Round Top.

I continued along the Camp Irene Trail, which ascended a gradual slope and then descended a bit down to Round Top Lake. The lake was serene, and a series of sub-peaks called The Sisters poked up above it. The Round Top Summit Trail headed south and was surprisingly well-defined, making the initial ascent smooth, if pretty steep. It eventually reached a slope used to gain the west ridge of Round Top, where the route  abruptly changed to scree and then progressively into a Class 2 scramble. The rock became more solid along the ridge itself, and soon I was on the summit crest.

I was stopped before the summit by a notch, which separated me from the dome-like summit for which the peak gets its name. I had to drop to the right on steep, loose terrain to get down below the notch into a gully, then scrambled up on its opposite side to start the Class 2/3 scramble to the summit block. The rock was quite solid and fun, though short-lived. On my ascent, I accidentally kept too far to the right and ended up in Class 4 territory, but there's a straightforward Class 3 weakness just after starting up out from the gully. With only one Class 3 section and a gorgeous summit, it became clear why this peak gets a lot of visitation. I could see Deadwood Peak to the south, Red Lake Peak to the north, and many other nearby summits from this gorgeous high point.

On the descent, I took a detour just past Lake Winnemucca, heading off-trail toward Elephant's Back, which is just a quick volcanic add-on peak. The terrain was a little more brushy than I'd expected, but I was able to avoid the majority of it. The ground was littered with large boulders, so sometimes I found myself avoiding brush and instead scrambling briefly on these boulders. As I neared the peak, the slope became steeper but leveled off once I reached the ridge. Round Top was a pretty sight from here, as were the various surrounding lakes. After a brief pause at the summit, I dropped north using an eroded social trail through the scree. I somehow lost it toward the bottom and instead headed north to rejoin the PCT.