(7/24/96) Uncompahgre - 14,309 feet
Tuesday 7/23: I left Denver about 10:00 AM and arrived at the Matterhorn Creek trailhead at about 4:30 PM. Henson Creek road was in good condition. FR 870 was in better condition than a lot of the backcountry dirt roads I have been on lately but with a few rough stretches-- passenger cars could probably get through without a holed oil pan by exercising a little care. The people were sparse in the middle of the week but the bugs were dense. I grabbed a site a short distance from the trailhead and hastily set up camp, retreating into my tent to escape the bugs. As the sunlight was cut off by the mountains (a good hour before "sunset" as it would be reckoned in a flat place) the bugs let up a bit.
Wednesday 7/24: Starting at 6:45, I reached the summit at 12:45 and finished back at the trailhead at 6:50 PM. This was a full day, and probably one a bit longer than necessary. On the other hand, I take heart at doing better than 1 mile/hour for the first time this year. Go ahead, laugh.
The route from the Matterhorn Creek trailhead is not the shortest. I chose it with the thought of having access to both Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn from the same trailhead. Roach gives the figures 14 miles/4300 feet (Southwest Slopes II, Class 2) for this approach as opposed to 7.6 miles/2900 feet for the approach from the Nellie Creek trailhead. If I had read the book a little more carefully I probably would have forgot about Wetterhorn-- it sounds a bit hazardous for someone of my experience alone and lacking a rope(!).
There was a slight haze that made the very air seem to glow in the rays of the early morning sun as I crested the pass and Uncompahgre hove into view. (As the day wore on I would often think "oh it's getting overcast" only to look up and see only blue from horizon to horizon.)
Roach's directions are to "contour southeast under all the lower cliffs on Uncompahgre's west side". Face to face with the real thing, I found this difficult to interpret. A well defined trail continued roughly southeast, parallel to the mountain but descending hundreds of feet into a valley. Or it appeared possible to bear northeast, attaining the lower skirts of the mountain itself with little loss of elevation, then edging around through much difficult terrain to rejoin the trail at the far southeast end of Uncompahgre.
Uncompahgre is built like a wedding cake, with distinct layers. There is a ledge-like feature about half-way up (i.e. half way between the 12,000 some feet of the surrounding terrain and the 14,309 foot summit). I considered the possibility that Roach was talking about making ones way up to this ledge and working around from there. But the ledge is interrupted part way around by a steep notch full of loose rock.
I continued southeast along the trail, dipping into the valley. Approaching the southwest slope I made a minor shortcut up the hill rather than follow the trail all the way to where it joins the Nellie Creek trail.
Now finally on Uncompahgre itself, I trudged northwest up a steep grassy slope. During the frequent gasping for breath sessions I gaped at the incredible scenery. Behind me was the grassy ridge and "shark fin" mentioned as a possible short cut in the Nellie Creek route.
Topping the rise, I got my first look at the peak of Uncompahgre from the southwest. It was wide and squat with distinct layers. Again I strolled the NE/SW length of the mountain on almost level terrain.
The final ascent was a combination of steep switchbacks and some class 2 and 3 rock climbing.
I reached the summit at 12:45-- 6 hours! There was a handful of other people, then they wandered off and I had it to myself for a few minutes. There was a respectable shelter made of rocks. The cliffs to the north were impressive-- watch that first step!
Now began the long trudge back to camp, which as a result of several ill-advised short cut attempts would take me longer than the original ascent.
Coming down off the final large mass of the summit, it was tempting to follow the spill of loose rock all the way down instead of only skirting around it to get back on the trail. This is the same "notch" mentioned earlier that interrupts the ledge like formation from going all the way around. I set out trying to descend this way but found it to be a rotten and treacherous surface, with every rock moving under my feet. Here a couple of feet of hard packed snow would have made a world of difference. I think a desperate person could descend this way or even climb the mess, but given the more pleasant alternatives I veered diagonally back to the grassy slope and resumed retracing my steps.
Back at the final descent off the mountain and into the valley to the southeast, I balked again at this "waste" of hard-won altitude. But this put me right back in the same spill of loose rock, though here less steep. I painstakingly made my way across this for a while but finally had to admit it wasn't worth it and make a now more difficult descent into the valley to rejoin the trail.
As I topped the 12,000 some foot saddle to head back towards the trailhead, it was about 5 PM. I was estimating at least another hour of hiking. My 2 quart canteen had about another 4 swallows in it and I was feeling rather dehydrated. I dug a really old bottle of water purification tablets out of my emergency kit and looked it over. The date said 6/68, but this relic of the Viet Nam war era was tightly sealed with some kind of wax or grease and when I got it open the 28 year old pills looked good as new. It was iodine based, and I seemed to remember iodine being effective against giardia (true) so I chugged the last few swallows, filled up from a stream and followed the instructions on the label. I had heard that iodine would give the water a funny taste but when I tried it after the prescribed 20 minute wait it might have been champagne.
All in all, this was some of the most spectacular scenery I have seen in Colorado.
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For the first time in a while I carried a gun. I think I will be doing this until we get word the Collie with a Taste for Human Flesh has been put down. Happily, the handful of dog encounters was uneventful as usual. My dog encounters on the trail (probably in the three figures since 1992, and if I had carried a gun every time it never would have come out of the holster) seem to fall into 2 categories: friendly dogs that run right up and want to sniff you, slobber on you, be petted, etc., and wary dogs that stop in their tracks until master arrives. Backcountry dog owners beware, the pooch that sinks his fangs into me will die.
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I was half expecting altitude sickness but it never came, even after spending two nights at 10,400 feet. Last year I felt weak and queasy after ONE night at the Missouri Gulch trailhead (9640 feet). I feel more in the dark than ever about what causes this.
Larry Mulcahy
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M-- V- PS+++ PE+ Y+ PGP+ t* 5++ X++ R tv b+++ DI++ D+++ G e+++ h+ r* y-
The Failed Clinton Presidency: day 1285, 177 days to go