Charles Ellicott Commentary Numbers 14:40

"And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up to the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we are here, and will go up unto the place which Jehovah hath promised: for we have sinned." — Numbers 14:40 (ASV)

Into the top of the mountain.— Or, towards the top of the mountain. This appears to have been the same route as that by which the spies had gone into the south country of Judea. (See Numbers 13:17.) It seems to be implied in verses 44 and 45 that the people did not actually ascend the top of the adjoining mountain.