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This was my fourth time starting a hike at Woods Lake, and the second time doing this exact hike, though
it had been nearly 16 years since the last time we visited this area. So this was the first visit for
the kids. We parked in the 2/3rds full day use lot around 1pm.
The trail starts along the paved road before there's shortly a dirt trail that parallels the road.
We then quickly came to a sign where the "loop" section of the hike starts. We took the left fork
to Winnemucca Lake (we'd return on the right fork, from Round Top Lake).
The trail crosses the road, then starts to climb gently past hillsides dotted with wildflowers.
The first time I did this hike I remember the wildflowers filled the hillsides in an impressive
colorful display. This time wasn't nearly as impressive, but perhaps that's because we came
about a month earlier in the year this time. Still, there were displays of Indian paintbrush,
columbine, lupine, and more. My oldest son has started taking an interest in taking pictures
of flowers, so we stopped several times here.
Indian paintbrush
Round Top in the distance
Round Top
Hillside of flowers
Trail heading toward Winnemucca Lake and Round Top
This hillside was full of flowers when I went 20 years ago
Into the Mokelumne Wilderness
After we exited the forest to the open hillsides, we soon saw Round Top ahead of us, patches
of snow clinging to its sides. We could hear the outlet flow rushing downstream to our right.
After only about 80 minutes of hiking from the trailhead, we reached Winnemucca Lake.
Winnemucca Lake
Winnemucca Lake
Flower close-up
Lupine
Lupine
Flowers
Flowers
Flowers
Flowers
Lupine
After a nice lunch break here, we continued climbing to the west, then dropped down to
Round Top Lake. After a brief stop here, we started the steep descent down toward the
Woods Lake campground. I would say this is steeper and less scenic than the route to
Winnemucca Lake, and with fewer wildflowers. Soon enough we could smell the campfires coming
from the campground. Then we reached the loop start and made our way back to the
parking lot.
Looking back toward Winnemucca Lake and the trail we took
Winnemucca Lake
Round Top Lake
Round Top (left)
Round Top Lake
Round Top Lake
Starting the descent
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