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Ridge Stock Driveway: Nellie Creek to El Paso Creek

Uncompahgre Wilderness & Fall Colors 2025 | Friday & Saturday, September 26-27, 2025

This weekend I headed up into the Uncompahgre Wilderness near Lake City so I could spend one final weekend hiking in the high country above treeline as my season in the mountains comes to an end. I’ve been wanting to hike more sections of the Ridge Stock Driveway Trail that traverses much of the wilderness from American Flats in the west to the Alpine Plateau in the east, and I thought it would be fun to hike a segment above Nellie Creek, Big Blue Creek and El Paso Creek, which all surround the base of Uncompahgre Peak– the highest point in the San Juan Mountains! I left from work on Friday afternoon, grabbed a bite to eat in Delta, and then took the Blue Mesa Cutoff over to the Lake Fork of the Gunnison which I followed upstream to Lake City. Although I was hoping to see some fall colors along the way this weekend, I was a bit surprised at just how nice the colors were all around Lake City. I don’t think I’ve ever headed this way in search of fall colors before since my typical go-to spots are around Ouray, Silverton and Crested Butte, but now I think I’m going to have to come back this way again in the future!

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Fall Creek: An Overdue Return to the Uncompahgre

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!

Among Giants of the Uncompahgre: Matterhorn Peak

Uncompahgre Wilderness: Between Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn Peaks
Friday & Saturday, August 14-15, 2020

This Sunday Diane and I have a camping permit secured for an overnight backpacking trip to the popular Conundrum Hot Springs near Aspen, but I didn’t want to skip out on hiking at least one new peak this weekend, so I thought I’d try to find something quick and easy to hike on Saturday morning before I returned home to pack for the overnighter. Since I haven’t made it back to the Uncompahgre Wilderness yet this year, and it’s probably my favorite wilderness area close to home, I figured doing something in that area would be a good choice. After looking over my maps I settled on hiking Matterhorn Peak (13,590) which has been on my to-do list for far too long. What better way to spend the morning than hiking in between two of my favorite 14ers!

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The Cimarron Loop

East Fork & Middle Fork of The Cimarron River
Labor Day Weekend | Saturday – Monday, September 2-4, 2017

Labor Day weekend was upon us again, which meant it was time for another backpacking trip into the Uncompahgre Wilderness! This would be our fourth year in a row backpacking into the northern valleys of the wilderness area, starting with our Wetterhorn Basin (West Fork) trip back in 2014, then continuing with trips into Big Blue Creek and Fall Creek. Earlier this summer we were also able to go on a quick overnighter along the Little Cimarron River to make up for our failed loop last year. With only two remaining major valleys left, we planned to combine the East Fork and the Middle Fork of the Cimarron River into a two night trip that I’ve called The Cimarron Loop.

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Little Cimarron River

Saturday & Sunday, July 15-16, 2017

Last Labor Day weekend, Diane and I had set off to complete a three day loop in the Uncompahgre Wilderness connecting the Fall Creek Trail and the Little Cimarron Trail. Unfortunately, stormy weather prevented us from crossing over the high ridge into the Little Cimarron River valley, so we had to cut our trip short and returned the way we had come. This weekend we decided to go on an overnight trip along the Little Cimarron River to make up for it since I’ve been itching to get back into the Uncompahgre Wilderness, which is one of my favorite, and often overlooked, wilderness areas close to home.

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Tag: big blue wilderness

Ridge Stock Driveway: Nellie Creek to El Paso Creek

Fall Creek: An Overdue Return to the Uncompahgre

Among Giants of the Uncompahgre: Matterhorn Peak

The Cimarron Loop

Little Cimarron River