Uncompahgre Wilderness | Saturday, June 21, 2025
I can’t believe it’s been almost five years since I last set foot in the Uncompahgre Wilderness, especially since I have always considered it to be one of my favorite Wilderness areas that’s close to home and we used to come here frequently over past Labor Day weekends. I guess I’ve just been too busy concentrating on exploring other areas these past few years. Well, I wanted to change that this summer and get back, so I thought it would be a good idea to go on a short overnight backpacking trip with Diane along Fall Creek since our last visit to that drainage didn’t quite go as planned. Unfortunately, it turned out that we wouldn’t have much better luck this time around either!
Since this was going to be a shorter hike and not too far from home, we slept in a bit on Saturday morning, had breakfast and then made our way to the Fall Creek Trailhead. The weather forecast was calling for clear skies all weekend with breezy conditions, and it was a bit windy out, but not as bad as we were expecting it to be.
Welcome to the Uncompahgre Wilderness. It looks like the sign has been replaced since the last time we were here.
Following the trail along Firebox Creek that would take us over the low pass into Fall Creek.
Fall Creek Trail
A reflection in a little tarn along the trail.
While we managed to avoid the first crossing of Fall Creek along the trail, we took our shoes and socks off for this second crossing. The water was very cold!
We found a nice sheltered campsite that helped block some of the wind.
A view up Fall Creek from near our campsite.
Diane wasn’t feeling too well this afternoon, so she rested in the tent while I went for a late afternoon hike further up Fall Creek. I was hoping to follow the trail up onto the ridge that separates Fall Creek from the Little Cimarron River.
Although the trail was easy to follow at first, it was very wet and muddy in places and then disappeared more frequently as I made it higher into the basin.
Point 13051 towered over the head of the basin and is a peak that I climbed almost ten years ago when we backpacked along Big Blue Creek.
I was hoping to climb up onto that ridge, but not only was the trail still covered with quite a bit of snow that was very soft in the warmth of the afternoon, but I was moving slower than I had hoped and didn’t want to leave Diane alone for too long back at camp, so I decided to call it a day and head back down.
Looking up at the jagged side of PT 13051.
I took a bit of a detour and explored the upper reaches of the basin on my way back down.
A view down Fall Creek as I returned to the trail.
PT 13016 is the highpoint in the upper right.
After returning to camp it seemed that Diane still wasn’t feeling the great, and honestly, neither was I at this point. Maybe it was the elevation? After discussing our options we thought it would probably be best to pack up and head back down to the trailhead while it was still light out. After getting everything back into our packs we started hiking down the trail about an hour before sunset.
The late evening light was looking nice on this little point above the trail as we hiked back down.
Fall Creek at Dusk
Firebox Creek at Dusk
Last of the Light
We only needed to use our headlamps for about the last mile and a half of the hike back to the trailhead. On our drive back down to the highway we saw a black bear cross the road in front of us just after leaving the boundary of the National Forest. Then we finished the drive back home, went right to bed and slept in on Sunday morning. Although this little weekend backpacking trip did not work out for us, it was nice to get back into the Uncompahgre Wilderness for a little day trip.