Wetterhorn Peak and Uncompahgre Peak

September 1, 2019 / 14,015’ (Wetterhorn) & 14,309’ (Uncompahgre)

RT STATS: TOTAL TIME - 9 HR & 17 MIN, 19.09 MILES, AND 6,706’ ELEVATION GAIN

TIME STATS: 3 HR & 3 MIN TO Wetterhorn PEAK, 12 MIN AT SUMMIT, 1 Hr & 22 min to Trail junction (where Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre Splits), 2 hr & 22 min to uncompahgre peak from trail junction, 16 MIN AT Uncompahgre SUMMIT, 2 HR & 2 MIN BACK TO TRAILHEAD (FROM Uncompahgre to Trail junction to Car)

RATING (HOW MUCH I LIKED THE HIKE): 10/10

You can bet that I was very excited to do another Class 3 14er….Wetterhorn Peak!! We left the Matterhorn Motel at 5am and arrived at the Matterhorn Creek Trailhead about 10 minutes before 6am. When we started, it was still dark out, but you could see well enough, so I did not wear my (dad’s, but I still have it) head lamp. 4WD cars can continue driving about .75 miles more to an actual trailhead, but we had a Chevy Equinox so we did not drive up. Over this .75 miles, we gained about 400’ of elevation, so parking further back was not a big deal.

Relatively, the whole first part of the hike was just a very gradual uphill. About 30 minutes in, we reached a sign telling us to go right to continue on to Wetterhorn Peak. Exciting stuff! We continued hiking and got the first incredible views of the day!

At just over an hour in, we reached a trail junction (12,000’) in which we continued left to Wetterhorn Peak. I would also be knocking off Uncompahgre Peak after Wetterhorn Peak without my dad so I was going to say that I took note of this spot, but it is pretty obvious.

We gained just over 1,000’ in elevation before reaching a ridge spot at a little under 2 hours (13,100’). At this spot, my dad left his pack and I kept my pack (but took some water out of it to lighten the load) before beginning the final 1,000’ ascent. 

The first bit of the last 1,000’ ft. was fairly steep—I finally took my poles out for it. Soon…the fun part (scrambling) began. Route finding is key for Class 3 routes (and Class 4 routes, but I have yet to do any) as I have learned. During this scrambling, I was thinking about how I actually know what Class 3 is now. I went off route on Mt. Lindsey and ended up doing Class 4 stuff. This is nothing to brag about—going off route is dangerous, but I am getting more experience so I will be better in the future. 

The most fun part of the scrambling occurred about 100’ away from the summit. My dad and I were not wearing helmets, but a lot of other hikers were. We waited for about 5 minutes while other hikers descended this scrambling section before beginning this final ascent.  This part was a blast!!!!! Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of myself on this stretch, but at least I got some pictures of some random people who will probably never see them!!!!

It took us 3 hours and 3 minutes (4.60 miles) to reach the summit! We took some pictures at the summit and spent 12 minutes at the summit before leaving.

52 minutes after leaving the summit, we reached the spot where my dad left his pack. I put some water back in my pack, said goodbye to my dad, and headed off in pursuit of Uncompahgre. At this point, I started eating my massive bag of trail mix. Also, my dad wanted to take a picture of me before I left and, yeah, I look kind of derpy but, whatever, nothing new.

30 minutes (1.33 miles) after leaving my dad, I reached the trail junction that I mentioned earlier and took a slight right to go towards Uncompahgre. This would be my 26th 14er and the first 14er in which I hiked by myself. The trail that I was hiking on was called the Ridgestock Driveway. I had no clue how long it would be from this junction to Uncompahgre’s summit (it turns out it was exactly 5 mile each way, 10 miles RT). The first couple miles were relatively flat—you would gain some minor elevation (say 100’) and then lose it and so on. I have to say it’s crazy thinking that I was surrounded by so many people in Atlanta a few days earlier, and, now, I was out in the “middle of nowhere” in Colorado hiking by myself. I’d take the “middle of nowhere” Colorado over the “busy city” Atlanta any day.

About 2.5 miles after the trail junction, I started gaining some elevation (and not losing it). The hike was pretty standard the rest of the way until the summit. Nothing eventful happened. 

From the aforementioned trail junction, it took me 2 hours and 22 minutes to arrive at Uncompahgre’s summit. There were 4 other people up there while I was up there. I spent 16 minutes at the summit before heading down. Of course, I took some dope pictures as usual.

The descent was the second most fun part of the day (after the Wetterhorn scrambling of course). About 20 minutes into the descent (after some of the steep parts such as in this first picture below), I decided to trail run the way back to the car. The distance from Uncompahgre summit back to my car was 7.4 miles. I would say I ran about 2/3 of this distance (5 miles). To say the least, it was a ton of fun. 

It was kind of tiring though, this hike ended up being 19 miles and was the third day of hiking!! Regardless, it was a blast! Like I said in my Redcloud/Sunshine post, it makes me so excited to trail run in the future! It was hard/kind of awkward running though because I still had my Northface backpack on…. It took me 2 hours and 2 minutes to return back to the car (just under 16:30 mile pace). The overall hike stats were 9 hours and 17 minutes, 19.09 miles, and 6,706 ft. elevation gain (according to Strava). My Garmin Connect account says the elevation gain was 7,211 ft., but I am going by what Strava says since it seems more accurate. Shout out to my dad for waiting 3+ hours so I could knock off another 14er!!!

We got back into Lake City and it was hard finding a restaurant to eat at, since the first couple that we tried were closed for Labor Day. We ended up eating at the Packer Saloon and Cannibal Grill….good choice! I ordered 2 entrees (lol): a 1/2lb burger and a chicken cannibal salad. Only complaint is that pasta salad side was extremely tiny (it maybe had 10 noodles), but my dad gave me his, so, now, it was like the pasta salad side at least being close to a normal side portion (haha).

At dinner, we were still planning on hiking Handies Peak the next day (Labor Day); however, we decided that it was going to be too rushed. Also, I did not need to overdo it (and get injured again). I still had a lot of homework to finish so I worked on my homework a lot that night and the next day. I flew out of Denver on Monday night, arrived back to my apartment in Atlanta at 1:45 am Tuesday morning, went to bed at 3:30 am after trying to finish my Matlab homework, and still got up in time for my 8am lab!!!! What a fun weekend :)