Brown was an accomplished mountain climber and benefited from Stanford's proximity to the Sierra Nevada range, mostly famously explored by John Muir (1838-1914), founder of the Sierra Club, of which Brown was a charter member. Brown was the first to record climbing a group of peaks in the Sierras with, in two instances, his intrepid wife Lucy; his most challenging first ascent was of Mount Clarence King (also known as Mount King) in August 1896. According to the Climber's Guide to the High Sierra, Brown's ascent of Mount King was the first time advanced aid-climbing techniques were used in North America.: Nearby Mount Bolton Brown (13,538 ft) is named after him; Brown also named several peaks in the area of Mount King.