Tag: thunder lake

Mt Alice – 13,319

RT Length:  19.98 miles

Elevation Gain: 5159’

This hike, while long, was much easier than anticipated.  I arrived at the Wild Basin Trailhead inside Rocky Mountain National Park and was on the trail at 4am.   I’m sure most of you know this, but the park has an entrance fee, and timed entry for this trailhead between the hours of 9am-2pm.  The trailhead holds dozens of vehicles, and there’s a bathroom there.

The trailhead starts at the west end of the parking area and is clearly marked.

I followed the trail all the way to Thunder Lake. This is a class 1 trail with many junctions, but they are all clearly labeled.  I just kept heading towards Thunder Lake, and if Thunder Lake wasn’t on the trail sign (which it wasn’t always), I followed the signs to Ouzel Falls, and then Thunder Lake was on all the rest of the signs.  Along the way I passed Calypso Falls and Ouzel Falls.  Here are some pictures of the trail and junctions to Thunder Lake:

After hiking for a total of 7.2 miles I made it to Thunder Lake, and the Patrol Cabin (which was now boarded up for the winter).

Here the trail continues, skirting the north side of Thunder Lake, then continuing into the trees, heading west all the way up to Lake of Many Winds. 

At Lake of Many Winds the trail stops, but the route finding is class 2 and easy to figure out. I kept heading west, aiming for the saddle between 12er Tanima and Mt Alice, otherwise known as Boulder-Grand Pass.

This part is choose your own adventure, but the remainder of the hike is class 2.  You’re just trying to gain the saddle.  I’d been here before (when I was climbing Isolation), and just went down the scree, which worked well.  However, this morning I wanted to try the gully to the right.  It was more solid than the scree and offered hand and foot holds.  You can take the scree up as well, as all routes here lead to the same place.

Once at the saddle, I turned right and ascended the ridge north.  The true summit is to the west (as per LoJ and my Peakbagger app, and summit register placement). 

This ridge has a gentle slope and is filled with tundra and large boulders.  I was easily able to navigate around the boulders, staying on tundra most of the way.  I just kept heading north.  I gained 1250’ of elevation in about 1.1 miles to the summit from the pass.

Eventually I could see the summit of Mt Alice come into view

This is the overall route I took to get there

The boulders here were stable, and rock-hopping was quick.  Before I knew it, I was at the summit of Mt Alice (which had a cairn and a summit register, but the register was open and empty).

I summited Mt Alice at 9am

Mt Alice:

Now to head back to Boulder-Grand Pass, I turned around and headed south, back the way I’d ascended.

I took the same gully back down to Lake of Many Winds

And then picked up the trail that would lead me back to Thunder Lake.

I skirted Thunder Lake to the north, then followed the clearly marked trail signs for the Wild Basin Ranger Station back to the Wild Basin Trailhead

I made it back to my truck at 12:45pm, making this a 19.98 mile hike with 5159’ of elevation gain in 8 hours, 45 minutes.

On to the next trailhead!

Mahana Peak – 12,643 and Isolation Peak – 13,114

RT Length:  21.79 miles

Elevation Gain:  5665’

I parked at the Wild Basin Trailhead inside Rocky Mountain National Park and was on the trail at 4am. There’s plenty of parking here, but they have timed entry from 9am-2pm every day. 

The trailhead starts at the south end of the parking area

I followed the signs for Ouzel Lake/Bluebird Lake.  This class 1 trail is really well marked, so it’s difficult to get lost if you read the signs.  I passed several waterfalls (Copeland Falls, Calypso Falls, and Ouzel Falls).

After hiking for 4.75 miles I came to the junction for Ouzel Lake and Bluebird Lake.  I turned right onto the Bluebird Lake Trail.

I didn’t stay on this trail long however.  Maybe about 10 yards or so. Then I left the trail and headed northeast to gain the ridge

This is where I startled a moose.  He was about 15 feet away from me when I saw him, so I quickly ducked behind a large boulder.  Usually, moose run away when they see you, or ignore you, but this guy seemed interested in me.  I’ve seen probably over a hundred moose in Colorado, and I’ve only been charged once.  This guy looked like he wanted to charge me, so I remained hidden.  For a solid 15 minutes, every time I peeked out from behind the boulder, he was still staring at the boulder I’d hidden behind.  I know moose have poor eyesight, so while he knew I was still there, he was probably trying to figure out if I were a threat or not.  (That’s Chickadee Pond in the background).

Eventually I crawled away on my hands and knees so he couldn’t see me in the brush, and continued my way up the ridge.  This included a lot of bushwhacking through downed trees.  A lot of downed trees.

Once I made it to the ridge, I followed it west to treeline

The route from here was straightforward.  I stayed o the ridge, following it west.  The terrain started out as loose rocks, then changed to tundra.

When you get to the tundra, don’t be fooled:  this is a false summit.  Stay to the left of it

This is the true summit of Manaha Peak.  It’s easy class 2 to get there

I summited Mahana Peak at 9am

Mahana Peak:

From Mahana Peak, I could see Isolation Peak to the northwest

To get there, I headed northeast along the ridge until I came to a low point, and then headed northwest towards the ridge.

This is the overall route I took to gain the ridge of Isolation Peak.  If you look carefully, you will see a green band of grass that makes the route easy to follow.  I descended on rocky terrain, then was greeted with tundra, then rocky tundra as I ascended.

Once on the ridge, I turned left and could see Isolation Peak to the southwest. This was a class 2 hike, sticking to game trails either directly on or to the left of the ridge, until the last 10 feet or so, when it was a quick class 3 scramble to the summit

I’m pretty sure this block is the summit.  I sat on it, but briefly.  Pictures/video were difficult.  The summit rocks didn’t feel stable, and I could see through them to air below if I looked down. 

I summited Isolation Peak at 10:30am

Isolation Peak:

Here’s looking back at Mahana Peak from Isolation Peak

If you’re not up for class 3-4 scrambling, now’s the time to head back the way you came in, towards Mahana.  It’s the fastest route.  If you’re up for some scrambling, strap on your helmet if you haven’t already, and head northeast along the ridge.  Some of this ridge I’d consider choose your own adventure.  This is the route I took, keeping it class 3, with some easy class 4 scrambling (down chimneys/gullies).

I was now back to where I ascended the ridge, and followed the ridge northeast.  There is a lot of elevation gain and loss on this descent

I went to the right of this boulder.  Getting through was sketchy class 3.  The boulders were large, but there was a lot of empty space between them, and they didn’t feel solid. 

My next objective was to make it here (this was class 2, sticking to the ridge)

This is where it got a bit tricky.  I turned left, and descended into a rather large and steep gully.  I spent a lot of time in this gully route finding, and my advice is to stick to the gully proper until you make it down to 12160’.  You’re trying to go below this rock formation, which goes a lot further down than you’d think.

I turned left, and descended into the gully

I came to a place that looked like it cliffed out, but it was really just a drop onto a boulder, then a 7-foot downclimb. 

Here’s looking back up at the gully

And a look at the final drop.  The boulder in the middle was essential to the descent.

This was at about 12160’, where I stopped descending the gully, and looked for a grassy ledge climbers right. 

I made it to the ledge, descended another grassy ledge, then reascended a grassy ledge to re-gain the ridge

For those of you doing this the opposite way, here’s a look back at the grassy ledge I descended.  You can see why I had to drop down so low in the gully, with the sheer cliff face to navigate.

Here’s how I got around the next few obstacles

And that was it for the climbing for today.  I kept my helmet on because I still had a scree-gully to descend, but all the class 3 and 4 stuff was done.  I’d wanted to head over to Mt Alice today too, but clouds were forming and I didn’t think it was a good idea.  I headed towards Boulder-Grand Pass, turned right, and descended the gully towards Lake of Many Winds.  From the pass, it was 9.5 miles back to the trailhead.

A good trail picks up here, and leads all the way back to the Wild Basin Trailhead.  Here you can see Thunder Lake.  This trail becomes the Thunder Lake Trail, skirting the lake to the left.  This is a class 1 trail.  Once again, it’s very well marked, with signs indicating the route back to the Wild Basin Trailhead

I made it back to the trailhead at 4:45pm, making this a 21.79 mile hike with 5665’ of elevation gain in 12 hours, 45 minutes, at least according to CalTopo.  Strava gave me drastically different numbers

On to the next trailhead!