I first climbed Mount Alice through Boulder-Grand Pass above Thunder Lake in August, 2002. I so enjoyed this long hike and climb that I repeated it in September, 2002, just to experience again the joy that Mount Alice and Wild Basin itself can provide to any hiker/climber. To top that off, Lynn Prebble and I performed an entire circuit of the mountain in September, 2003. We ascended Alice that time up Hourglass Ridge from Lion Lakes and descended to Thunder Lake via Boulder-Grand Pass. I started and ended all my climbs of Alice from the main Wild Basin trailhead, and by also climbing Alice’s nearest neighbor 12,222 foot Pilot Mountain along the way each time. Gerry Roach labels the Hourglass Ridge climb of Alice one of his “Classic” hikes and climbs. It is that, all right, for sure. If you don’t know who Lynn Prebble is, I will ask you to do a Google search for “‘Lynn Prebble,’ Everest". You will quickly find out. I will ask you to do some other Google searches as you read this trip report. There is a lot to learn here. Keep your Google tab open. My every subsequent climb of Alice just got better than the last one had been. I didn’t believe that could be possible, but it was.

Though it is a peak, “Mount” seems to fit this one just fine. Alice Peak just doesn’t sound right. I don’t know how a peak can express gender, but this one definitely does for me, and she is definitely female. On my September, 2002 climb I definitely fell in love with Alice. You will see why. Autumn, or rather the last warm days of Indian Summer, mark a particularly fine time to climb Alice. The weather is at its most reliable state during Indian Summer. If the morning starts out fair and clear in Indian Summer, it generally will stay that way the rest of the day with no sudden storms. Alice takes a long time and many miles to ascend and descend as a day hike. You spend a lot of time up high, and you don’t want to deal with any sudden storms. You might want to do this one with an overnight or two at the back country camp-site at Thunder Lake. Thunder Lake alone is nearly 7 miles from the Wild Basin trailhead. It is probably over 9 miles total to the summit to the summit of Alice from the trailhead. I believe the total distance from the trailhead to Lion Lakes and up Hourglass Ridge to the summit is just about the same. If you climb in Indian Summer you can also enjoy the added benefit of fall color. There is a shortcut trail that I would advise you to take both ascending and descending, though by taking the shortcut you will miss viewing both Calypso Cascades and Ouzel Falls. Waterfalls are usually at low flow in the fall anyway. You will get a far-away view of Mertensia Falls before you reach Thunder Lake.

One spring I bushwhacked off the trail with my good SLR Pentax just to get a picture of the top of Mertensia Falls at nearly full flow. I couldn't fit the entire falls into one photo close up. It is just too big. This is the best I could do.

Thunder Lake provides a stunning and beautiful setting for any climb or hike. The Wild Basin Patrol Cabin is at Thunder Lake. I believe this patrol cabin is the most beautiful and historic patrol cabin ever built in the Park, though its design is simple. It is very old, and has historic value. You might want to Google “Thunder Lake Patrol Cabin” to find out why. A particularly notable and historic Park Ranger used to sometimes stay in this patrol cabin. You might want to Google “Jack Moomaw” or “Jack Moomaw RMNP” to find out something about this notable man. Worth doing. That said, I will now go on with my photographs and description about climbing Mount Alice from Thunder Lake.

My first 5 photos will be of the Thunder Lake Patrol Cabin.

Here are the two best photos I ever took of the lake and patrol cabin with my good 35mm Pentax SLR. Different weather conditions, different lighting. That's Tanima Peak, a 12er, behind.

Then I told you I wanted to refer back to a photo I first showed you in my trip report on climbing Copeland Mountain. I not only got to catch my first glimpses of Isolation and Ogalalla Peaks from Copeland, I also got my first view of the summit of Pilot Mountain from Copeland. The summit of Pilot Mountain is actually the route from Boulder-Grand Pass to the summit of Mount Alice. When you climb Alice from either direction, you are actually walking the Continental Divide! You do that too when you climb either McHenry’s and Chief’s Head from Stone Man Pass! What a trip, huh? In places (like at the three passes themselves) you can stand with one foot on one side of the Divide, and the other foot on the other side. A link is appropriate here to a great song written by the late, great Kate Wolf, and performed here by Nanci Griffith and Emmylou Harris:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jst8OR1Jd74

If the link doesn't work for you, just do a Google search for "'Across the Great Divide' Nanci Emmylou" and click on the link that comes up. Enjoy!

By the way, beautiful photos will scroll on your computer screen when you listen to this song. Many of these photos were taken of mountains as far away as Alaska. But some photos were also taken as close to home as Rocky Mountain National Park. Noteworthy among these is one that displays the distinctive shape of Taylor Glacier. I believe the elk photo was taken in Rocky. And the montage of photos ends with the end of the song with that great winter view of Chapin, Chiquita, and Ypsilon rolling like waves in some great rocky sea.

From the Patrol Cabin at Thunder Lake I circled around the lake’s rightmost shoreline, then followed a climber’s trail that broke away from the trail around the lake, ascending up a long slope toward Boulder-Grand Pass. I might have had to do a little bushwhacking to find the climber's trail. Don't really remember. Didn't take any photos down low around the lake.

Photos from both my 2002 climbs are inter-mixed in this trip report. On my first climb, I carried my pocket 35mm Pentax IQZoom, on my second climb I carried my good 35mm Pentax SLR. You will notice the difference between the photos from the first and second climbs as a result. On my second climb I found myself hiking amidst a feast of the color displayed by fall foliage. A riot of contrasting colors, really! I couldn’t stop taking photos. It was the striking contrasts between the rocks, the lichen, the reds, the greens, the yellows of the foliage that caught my attention! I share with you a few views of the riot I discovered, and a photo of the last blooming wildflower I found blooming just for me up high in 2002.

Then I approached at last Boulder-Grand Pass, and it’s tarn below.

I decided that the most secure footing up the pass was that rocky rib on the right, not the scree. I decided that the rock rib was my ticket to the two peaks.

I will end this trip report with a photo taken with my good SLR of Mchenry’s, the top of Hourglass Ridge (don’t worry, you don’t get cliffed-out at the top as it appears here and in the photo above and before this one), the tundra in full color, and a great drama of clouds and sky taking place above! That’s the Mummy Range in the far distance beyond McHenry's. That speck above center in this photo is not a bit of dirt. It is a hawk cirling high above just to watch me summit! Ha! But it really is a hawk.