Uncompahgre Wilderness

marquiri

marquiri

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Jan 15, 2018
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Good morning all,

I'm starting the process of planning a trip for late next summer/early fall. We've done Yellowstone a couple of times, Tetons, Bob Marshall, and the Winds the last 2 years. We generally go out for 7-10 days. We're thinking about Colorado for next year, and I'm interested in exploring the Uncompahgre Wilderness area. Anyone have any experience and/or recommendations for that area?
 
The classic trip in there is the Middle and East Forks of the Cimarron River Loop. You can do it in either direction and a car shuttle is helpful. A bigger trip would be to take either fork of the Cimarron and then head south and go out the Matterhorn Trail. There aren't lakes for destinations but there is a lot of above treeline to explore and many,many peaks to climb. Car shuttle for that one too or go partway and then backtrack and take a Cimarron Fork out.

 
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I've always wanted to visit the Uncompahgre Wilderness, but I don't think it lends itself naturally to long (7-10 day) trips compared to places like the Weminuche Wilderness or some of the places that you mentioned (the Winds, the Bob, etc). At least for me, one of the whole points of doing a longer trip is to get deeper into the wilderness and further away from trailheads. But there are trailheads all over the Uncompahgre Wilderness (at least it looks that way from the map), so I've always assumed it lends itself more naturally to shorter routes (maybe 2-5 days or so). But I'd be happy to hear input from others if I'm mistaken. If you have 7-10 days, maybe you could visit the Uncompahgre Wilderness for part of that time and then another location in the San Juans such as Ice Lakes Basin (super crowded nowdays), Blue Lakes basin (probably quite crowded as well), or the Weminuche for the remainder of your time.
 
I started by looking at the Weminuche, but it seems like a lot of it is pretty crowded these days.
 
Here are two ideas.

1) There is a great loop around the Wetterhorn/Matterhorn that you can start ether from the Middle Fork of the Cimarron, West Fork Wetterhon Basin Trail or the Matterhorn Creek Trailhead (out of Lake City). Definitely need a high clearance 4WD for the last two options. Basically -- Matterhorn Creek to Matterhorn cutoff to Middle Canyon Trail to the Wetterhorn Basin Trail to the Coxcomb Trail to the Middle Fork of the Cimarron Trail to the Matterhorn/Ridge Stock Driveway trail and out. The connection between the Middle Fork and the Matterhorn has a short sketchy off trail section. Need great weather for this backpack. Lots of explosed sections, three 12,000-ft passes and little protection for camping. You can also take time to climb Uncompahgre and Matterhorn Peak. Wetterhorn is more difficult. Depends on your skills.

2) Another great option is to start from Spring Creek Pass and follow the CDT/Colorado Trail south. Several end point options.
a) Beyond Stony Pass split off on the Whitehead Trail (Highland Mary Lakes). Follow this trail down to CR33 (4WD road) that leads to Silveron.
b) Where the CDT/Colorado Trail split, Follow the Colorado Trail down to Elk Creek and then climb up to Colorado 550 at Molas Lake/Molas Pass. (Very steep uphil).
c) Beyond the split of the CDT/Colorado Trail follow the CDT to West Ute Creek/Ute Creek and drop down to the Rio Grande Reservoir.
Other options also work -- take a look at the route on Caltopo...

The last option is the easiest for a car shuttle.
 
I mapped a loop out of the Pine River trailhead and goes up to the Divide either via Rincon La Osa (525) or Flint Creek Trail, then down to the Rock Creek Trail and Moon Lake via Moon Pass, and back out the Lake Fork Trail. All appears on trail, but I've seen varying reports regarding the sketchiness of going over Moon Pass from Rock Lake. I know there is a trail there, but there is some scar tissue among my group members from a very long day of boulder hopping in the Winds earlier this month.
 
Even if bagging some peaks is not what you like to do this recent trip report shows what the peaks around the Middle Fork look like. Personally I like pointy peaks. I day hiked the Middle Fork on 8/29 and saw 6 other people and none went as far as I did. Just saying.

www.14ers.com

Unnamed 13222 B Trip Report 09/20/2023

14ers.com Trip Report - Fun in the Cimarrons - El Punto, Heisshorn & Unnamed Neighbors 09/20/2023
www.14ers.com www.14ers.com
 
marquiri said:
I started by looking at the Weminuche, but it seems like a lot of it is pretty crowded these days.
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Yes it is, most anything anywhere in trail is.
 
marquiri said:
I mapped a loop out of the Pine River trailhead and goes up to the Divide either via Rincon La Osa (525) or Flint Creek Trail, then down to the Rock Creek Trail and Moon Lake via Moon Pass, and back out the Lake Fork Trail. All appears on trail, but I've seen varying reports regarding the sketchiness of going over Moon Pass from Rock Lake. I know there is a trail there, but there is some scar tissue among my group members from a very long day of boulder hopping in the Winds earlier this month.
Click to expand...
I’ve thought about this loop for this summer as well. Been on my list. I have done from Kite Lake to Pine River trailhead going over Rock/Moon saddle. I was also worried about it. But it was very easy. No scrambling at all. The north side could hold snow in early season, but the trail and pass were fine. No Boulder hopping at all, mostly loose rock trail on the north and grassy slopes trail on the south. Moon is an amazing place. I really want to camp them if I get back to this area again.
 
Brendan S said:
Chicago Basin area is but theres tons of other options. I’ve done 4th of July weekend trips and hardly seen anyone after getting away from trailheads.
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I second Brendan’s comments. I did two trips into the Weminuche this past summer. One of them off trail, where I saw not a single soul for 5 days and the other in Chicago Basin volunteering for SJMA and counted hundreds of people in three days.
 
Thanks for the info @Tweedie. I'd love to hear any other suggestions you have for loops in SW Colorado. What was the off trail route that you did in the Weminuche?
 
It was. We got to the top in a reasonable amount of time. Fortunately (in hindsight), the sky didn't look great, so we didn't pause for more than a couple of minutes at the top. We rolled into camp at Upper Golden Lake shortly before dark. We were lugging wet gear that day, and I took on an extra tent because one of the group members was having a hard time with the stability of her pack on the way up. I was lugging close to 65 pounds for most of that day.
 
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