Round Lake Morning View from real relaxing campsite, 2006.

Snowplant

Round Lake Summer Morning View from really relaxing Northwest side campsite

Paperplant

The Trails

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Hiking to Round Lake

Meiss Country Roadless Country

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Trail Guide: This Segment

NORTH: Meiss Country Roadless to Round Lake

SOUTH: Hiking Past Round Lake

Topo Map: South Upper Truckee to Carson Pass

Maps Index

MILES AND ELEVATIONS

Miles and Elevations Index

Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit

All permitting Authorities

Tahoe to Whitney on YouTube

Round Lake: its Beauties and its Campsites

Two Views South: Same Angle, Different Seasons

	View South across Round Lake.				The Same View, but I am camping on the flat apron of the frozen Round lake, rather than on the irregular surface on the shore-side terrain.

	The perfect forest frame for a beautiful afternoon kicking it by Round Lake.				The route South climbs out to the left of the snow covered rock towards Meiss Meadow, two miles to the South.

South Upper Truckee Road Trailhead

Meiss Country Roadless Area

Round Lake

Elevation: 8080

Mileage: 4 miles South from the South Upper Truckee Trailhead. Two miles North of the Junction with the Pacific Crest and Tahoe to Yosemite Trails in Meiss Meadow near Meiss Cabin.

Local Options: Various ways into Round Lake

From South Upper Truckee trailhead: 3.39 miles. (The new trail route has increased this to 4+ miles)

From Big Meadow trailhead: 3.26 miles.

From Carson Pass: 5.03 miles.

From Echo Summit: 11.21 miles.

miles and elevations

comments-questions-experiences?

Winter Aspects of Round Lake

	Winter Camp at Round Lake.				A different Winter Camp at Round Lake

	Old School Half-Dome Tent. 5.5 lbs.				Same Old School Half-Dome Tent. I only use this tent for rain now.

Round Lake to Meiss Meadow, Winter to Spring, March 19-20, 2010

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Spring: Soft-Frozen Round Lake

	Springtime-Soft Round Lake during May 2002.

	The granite feature on the South side of the lake is shrouded in snow.

South Upper Truckee to Round Lake: Spring Snow Backpacking, June 5, 2010

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The Liquid Form of Round Lake: Delightful

Fine Spring morning at Round Lake. Always a good start to Mount Whitney. Note the check dam in the foreground.

Easy intermediate trail take us from here to Carson Pass, via Meiss Meadow and the Carson Gap.

	Round Lake full in late Spring. View South from the North side of the lake. Note the granite rock on the far side of the lake, sitting in the shadow of a massive volcanic pinnacle.				Summer View to the South across Round Lake.

	Fresh clean water, too many mosquitoes, and the beautiful blush of Spring Flowers. Background crestline sits above the beginning of Meiss Meadow.				Water and Aluminum cooking pot in foreground, Landmark cliff in background right. Far ridge line is the Southwestern Extent of Tahoe Basin, just West of the Carson Gap.

High Sierra Check Dams

The Round Lake Check Dam

Round Lake, like almost every large and small lake in the Sierras, is the product of a check dam.

Round Lake Check Dam, Meiss Country Roadless Area

I am an advocate of maintaining the historic check dams that created our favorite High Sierra Lakes. The traditional use of these legacy check dam lakes has passed from their original builders, the early ranchers and herders in the High Sierras, to today's backpackers, horsemen, and hunters.

I believe that ending the check dams as the Sierras are warming up and drying out is a bad idea. Other High Sierra Check Dams:

Genevieve Lake Check Dam, Stony Ridge Lake Check Dam, Susie Lake Check Dam, Showers Lake Check Dam.

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This Guide

Is set up so that you can add your perspective & experiences here to broaden the trail guide's view of this area.

Check the Forum linked to from every trail guide page for more information, or to add yours. My perspective alone is insufficient to describe the terrain or the experience. Thus your perspective adds another dimension to the experience.

Questions and comments always welcome.

General & Current Information: Backpacker's Forum Home Page

Backpacking Topics: Backpacker's Forum

This Location's Forum: Round Lake

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Round Lake Summer Campsites

	A large site sits in a little bowl next to the trail into Round Lake from the North.				This is the same site as pictured left.

	The tent is set up for mosquito protection. 2.2 lb Walrus Micro-Swift.				Campsite laid out for water and cooking comfort.

Round Lake Campsites

Coming in from the North to Round Lake, either up from the South Upper Truckee Road trailhead, or laterally, from the Big Meadow Trailhead, brings you to the Northeast corner of Round Lake.

From here you will notice a trail cuts off to your right, directly West across the Northern Shore of Round Lake.

From this junction to the check dam, and the overlook of the South Upper Truckee River flowing out of Round Lake, there are a series of campsites spanning the spectrum of sophistication from simple flats to fully developed sites with fire rings, benches, and flattened areas for tents.

If you continue South past this North shore junction, a series of campsites along the Eastern Shore of Round Lake will soon reveal themselves to your left.

comments-questions-experiences?

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Round Lake Spring Visitor: Badass little Doe

This stout little girl cruised up on a grazing run.

I didn't spook or crowd her, I made friendly noises, so she tolerated my intrusion into her meal cruise.

That got me up from my reclined position, to get some shots. Deer are a trip, if you can get near the deer. This little girl was wary when I rose up, but I've got ways. I sweet talked her and she settled down to eat..

Deer Forum

Deer Grazing with one eye on Alex.

Various Round Lake Campsites

	Round Lake basics:				Tight Little Tent. Note the location on top of real soft old tree remnants. Nice.

	Seat, Table, Hot Chocolate, and two different kinds of rocks. I don't make fires, so the fire ring remains unused.				Rain, and threatening clouds along with thick mosquitoes provoked the tent, but the weather cleared into broken clouds and sun. A heavy dew fell, and the mosquitoes were persistent, so I didn't regret the tent.

Round Lake has a series of campsites along its Northern and Eastern shores.

I prefer the campsites along the Northern shore. Campsites are peppered along the berm rising along the North shore from the trail to the check dam.

A large campsite sits in a soft depressing just West off the trail at the top of the berm on the North side of the lake. That is the campsite pictured above right. Notice the benches around a fire ring in the background.

Turning off the main route to hike along the lake side trail on the North side of the Lake reveals a series of campsites to your right between where the terrain rises from the lake and where the steep drop down canyon towards Lake Tahoe begins. These are private little sites nestled into the folded terrain around the North side of Round Lake.

At the end of the trail along the North side of Round Lake we come to the check dam that maintains the lake, and a series of open campsites above the check dam. These are highly improved sites.

Staying on the main trail hiking along the East side of Round Lake reveals a series of sites along the East side of Round Lake. I've stayed in these East side sites a couple of times, but I always look with caution at the big field of huge composite boulders sitting on this slope below the shedding Round Lake Pinnacle.

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	View Southeast from the North shore of Round Lake.

	The trail runs North and South along the far shore, the East shore of the lake. South towards Meiss Meadow is to the right.

Round Lake Late Spring before the Freeze

	Cold late Fall afternoon. Looking at the North Shore of a very depleted Round Lake.

	The water was pine-pollen covered, and stale to taste. Melted snow would be a welcome change.

And it was Freezing!

	Late Fall at Round Lake: Cold as Hell, but note that I am still using Fall, rather than Winter gear. Wearing all layers under the lightweight upper and lower shells was perfectly comfortable.

	I'm still bringing a bear can as well. That will be dropped once the snows fall and deepen.

North: Meiss Country Roadless to Round Lake South: Hiking South Past Round Lake

Round Lake in the Meiss Country Roadless Area

Easy access to Round Lake

Round Lake is just too easy to get to for such a quiet, pretty place. The trail down from Big Meadow (most of the way...) makes this fine little lake too accessible. Well, it's mostly down from Big Meadow, until you reach the Big Meadow trail junction to the Round Lake trail coming up from the South Upper Truckee trailhead.

The Big Meadow trail junction is .58 of a mile North of Round Lake. Big Meadow trailhead is 3.26 miles total distance from Round Lake.

If the much more difficult trail up from the South Upper Truckee Road trail head was the only way in to Round Lake, it would be even quieter that it is now.

The majority of the times I have been to Round Lake there is no one else camping there. I have been alone. When not alone, there are one or two parties, at the most, around the Lake. Most people camp on the East side of Round Lake, under the Pinnacle, and leave the best sites on the North side of the lake for me.

But I come at weird times. Very early Spring, very late Fall, and Winter backpacking trips find few people anywhere in the Sierras.

Mosquitoes

As soon as the snows melt legions of mosquitoes rise out of the saturated ground, dominating the environment around Round Lake until they begin to recede in late July, depending on the year, and they all but disappear by mid August. Again, this depends on the character of each year.

The timing of Each season's thaw, bloom, and the trajectory of the mosquito populations is always dependent on the character and transition of Winter into Spring.

In 1997 the Sierras had a catastrophic Spring thaw. In 2010 we had massive Spring snowstorms. The former stripped the mountains of snow very early in Spring, the latter clogged the mountain passes until well into July. Each year is different.

Though beautiful, Round Lake's true rulers, the mosquitoes, will extract their quart of blood in exchange for your stay at Round Lake early in the season, unless you have taken the steps necessary to protect yourself from the mosquitoes' wrath.

If you are prepared for the mosquitoes, potential rain, the occasional heat wave, and the indisputable hard but brief work it takes to get there, each of these aspects of the environment will become another dimension adding to the beauty of backpacking to Round Lake.

Information

7.5 Hiking Topo Map: South Upper Truckee to Carson Pass

30 min Hiking Topo Map: South Upper Truckee to Carson Gap

Miles and Elevations

Next page South: Hiking South Past Round Lake

Backpacking Trail Guide

North

Meiss Country Roadless to Round Lake

Backpacking Trail Guide

South

Hiking South Past Round Lake