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The large parking lot was about half full as we prepared for this short hike.
While a storm had passed through a week or two earlier, the weather today was
perfect, clear, sunny, and about 70 degrees in late October.
The trail heads straight into the forest. There's a bit of a slight
downhill at the start, but most of it is slightly uphill to the lake.
There were patches of snow on the ground here and there, probably remnants
from the recent
storm. We encountered several hikers with dogs along the trail, some leashed
some not, but the owners and dogs were pretty friendly (important when
you're hiking with small children, as we were). While we did run into
several hikers along the trail, it never felt too crowded.
One thing that detracts a little from the hike is that when you first
start, you can hear cars zooming along nearby Highway 88. So you never
quite get that wilderness feeling from this hike, despite the fact
that you'll pass a sign as you enter the Mokelumne Wilderness on your
way to the lake.
Frog Lake
The eastern edge of Frog Lake
As you get closer to the lake, you'll come out into the open and be
rewarded with views of Round Top mountain. The trail then heads up and
to the left. At the first trail intersection, take the left fork, which
quickly descends down to beautiful Frog Lake. Red Lake Peak looms behind
the lake to the north, and the lake appears to drop off into nothingness
to the east. In retrospect, there are probably some nice views from
that end of the lake, but I didn't get a chance to venture over there
(it's not very far, so if you get a chance, I'd recommend you check it
out). I imagine the views are probably similar to that of the view point
along Highway 88 just west of the pass (a place I did stop at in a
previous visit and got a nice photograph of Red Lake).
Red Lake Peak looming behind Frog Lake
After a picnic and long break by the lake, we headed back the way we
came. A popular hike is to continue past Frog lake (on the right fork
instead of the left) to Winnemucca Lake, and then perhaps on up to
Round Top itself. In past trips I'd visited Winnemucca Lake, Round Top
Lake, Fourth of July Lake, and Round Top (all starting from Woods Lake),
and they're all highly recommended. On this trip, however, we simply
headed back the way we came, back to the parking lot.
Round Top
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