Lion Lakes to Thunder Lake

July 31st, 2008

Report Summary

This report covers my trek from the saddle between Mt Alice and Chiefshead - by the Hourglass Ridge - down to Thunder Lake. Sandy, Ali, and I started from the Wild Basin TH and hiked together to the Hourglass Ridge below the north face of Mt Alice. At that point we split. They took the high road, over Mt Alice, across the tundra to Boulder Grand Pass, and down to Thunder Lake. Meanwhile, I took the low road back down towards Snowbank and Lion Lakes and then set off across the wild lands between the Lion Lakes and Thunder Lake. Check out the Mt Alice trip report for pictures on the way to Hourglass Ridge.

As I mentioned in the Mt Alice trip report, I bowed out and took the low road because I was a little intimidated by the exposure on the Hourglass ridge. Being a spur-of-the-moment thing, I had to come up with something other than just hiking back the way I came. Since I enjoy bushwhacking and route finding, the answer was obvious when I looked across to where Thunder Lake lay hidden in the valley below Tanima Peak. So after taking a few pictures of Ali and Sandy climbing the north face, I headed off cross country to find Thunder Lake. I'm quite comfortable in that area of the park so I felt no need to get out the topo map. I figured worst case I could backtrack to Lion Lakes and pick up the trail there. Photo 1 shows the lay of the land for my trek. The two unnamed lakes (ponds?) sit on top of a ridge. Thunder Lake is hidden below that ridge at the base of the face Tanima Peak.

My first task was to descend off the ridge and get down to the base of Mt Alice and Pilot Mountain. As I made my way down I regularly probed the steep slope for a way down off the ridge. I had to regain some altitude a few times, but it didn't matter as I was not in a hurry. I was just looking for an interesting walk in the park. When I had descended the ridge almost back level with Lion Lake 2, I found crease through a small ridge of boulders embedded in krumholtz. I still had some altitude to lose before I was down in the lowlands below the east face of Mt Alice and Pilot Mountain. That required crossing a couple snowfields and route finding down through some more brush and boulders. When I first reached the lowlands, I looked across a shallow, open bowl with a wall of twisted, stunted pines on the far side. I knew they couldn't be to deep since from the ridge I had seen most of the area was open. None the less, it took a bit of route finding to pass through the pines.

I bit later I came upon a small lake (the right unnamed lake seen from the ridge) that was crystal clear and had a sandy bottom that appeared pale turquoise in color. I stopped there for lunch and enjoyed a grand view of Wild Basin and a feeling of near total isolation. Even though I was missing the summit of Mt Alice, I felt this was becoming one of my favorite hiking experiences at Rocky. Just a beautiful warm day with no pressures or worries and a great sense of adventure. After lunch, I continued heading west, leaving the lake, and eventually hit the outlet stream. I know it must drain into Thunder Lake so I followed it downstream. At this point, I knew I had altitude to lose to reach Thunder but hadn't had the chance to see how much. As I followed the stream, I quite suddenly came to a steep drop. I was at the top of, what I later found out to be, Fan Falls. So I back tracked along the stream until I found an easy crossing and continued to the west.

I quickly reached the end of the lowlands and found myself near the base of Pilot Mountain. Entering the woods, I found a steep cliffy area that didn't look passable. I was beginning to think I'd have to do some major backtracking, but then I found I chute down right up against the base of Pilot Mountain. It was quite steep, but the footing was good and there were plenty of handholds on the way down. The chute exited onto the side of a large talus field that sloped down Pilot's face to the thick woods below. From there, I could see where Ali and Sandy would be descending from the Pass. And I got my first look at what still lay ahead to reach Thunder Lake. Climbing down the talus was straightforward but a bit tedious because a lot of dead wood from the trees above was strewn across the rocks.

Once in the woods, I had to rely on general feel for where the lake was located. From above, I had seen it was slightly left of the angle I entered the woods. I knew the trail from the patrol cabin to the far end of the lake ran along between the shore and the steep ridge up to where I'd been all morning. So I headed through the woods favoring the path of least resistance to the left. I figured this strategy would funnel me between the lake and the ridge right to the trail. After some more heavy duty bushwhacking and negotiating a few tricky stream crossings, I reached open woods. Within a few minutes I spotted the lake through the woods and found the trail. Ten minutes later I was at the patrol cabin having a snack. It was about 1:15-1:30pm. I didn't stay too long since I didn't know whether I was ahead or behind Sandy and Ali. They caught up to me along the short cut camping trail a couple miles from the trail head. We all finished before 4:00pm.

Hike Stats:

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