Wetterhorn & Uncompahgre Peaks | Colorado San Juan's Hiking Journal

Wetterhorn &

Uncompahgre Peaks

Wetterhorn &

Uncompahgre

Peaks

Colorado

August 30-31, 2025

On Saturday August 30th we departed Lake City at 5:30am for the Wetterhorn trailhead. Wetterhorn Peak stands at 14,021 feet in Colorado’s San Juan mountain range and is rated a class three hike.

We took the standard route up Wetterhorn Peak via Ridge Stock Driveway Trail. The drive from Lake City to the lower trailhead (which AllTrails directs you to) is about 40 minutes and there are a number of parking lot options depending on the capability of your vehicle.

A few miles outside of Lake City you turn onto Colorado Road 24, and this portion is a little bumpy but doable in any SUV, maybe a sedan. Matterhorn Creek Trailhead is a half mile beyond this lower parking lot on Colorado Road 24 and reachable by a SUV, and you might want 4WD to reach this lot. From this lot you can continue up Matterhorn Creek Road (a real 4WD road) that ascends another half mile to the Wetterhorn Peak 4WD trailhead. It’s doable but you’ll definitely want 4WD and high clearance to access this lot.

We set off from the Wetterhorn Peak 4WD at about 6:45am and shaved off about 2 miles (round trip) and 400 feet from the AllTrails listing. The first 4 miles of the trail up to 13,000 feet is a mellow, class one hike.

A Look at Matterhorn Peak (left) and Uncompahgre Peak (right) on the climb up (image 1), early views of the Wetterhorn summit on the hike through the meadow (image 2, 3, 4)

At about 13,000 feet you reach the ridgeline and pass over a yellow patch of rock before beginning some of the class three hiking. We put on our helmets and began the last thousand feet. There is a bit of route finding through this section although it’s fairly intuitive to follow the path. After making your way up and through the first notch you reach a flat area and proceed around an angled slab before the final (and steepest) pitch up to the top. The photos from 14ers.com are super helpful to reference and save.

We reached the top around 10:30am and had some lunch as the clouds rolled in and out. We had great views of the ridge-line to Matterhorn Peak and Uncompahgre in the distance (our objective for the next day).

There was a massive herd of sheep in the valley below making a ton of noise we could hear from the top. We made our way down the class three portion in some cloud cover (and it feels much steeper on the descent). In total the hike was about 7 miles and 3,300 feet from the upper 4WD lot.

Looking up at the first part of the class 3 hiking (image 1), sitting on the angled slab (image 2), the view looking back down the beginnning of the class 3 hiking (image 3)

Making our way around the first bit of class three climbing (image 1), climbing through a chute (image 2, 3), the flat portion before the last notch up to the summit (image 4), a view through the clouds (image 5), walking down the angled slab (image 6), a view of Matterhorn and Uncompahgre from the summit (image 7)

The next day we headed out from Lake City to hike Uncompahgre Peak, a nearby 14,308 foot mountain next to Wetterhorn Peak. We’d end up seeing many of the same hikers that we saw the day prior on the trail.

I had previously read the road up to Uncomahgre Peak is in worse shape than Wetterhorn but this wasn’t the case at all. I put the 4Runner in 4WD high but never needed to switch to 4W low. The road was in pretty good shape. We got to the trailhead a bit before 7 and the parking lot was already pretty full.

We would take the Uncompahgre Peak via Nellie Creek Road route which is rated a class two hike and much easier and more straightforward than Wetterhorn. We breezed through the first few miles and you quickly have a view of the square, blocky summit of Uncompahgre. It’s super recognizable and has been one of my favorite and more unique peaks to view from other nearby summits.

About a thousand feet shy of the summit you take a couple rocky switchbacks to the saddle before you proceed around the back of the massive, square rock formation that is the top.

At this point you can see the pointy summit of Wetterhorn just beyond Matterhorn. There is a bit of scramble up to the top of Uncompahgre that could be turned into a class three hike if you lose the trail.

The summit is a massive flat area and was pretty busy with other hikers. We had some food, took in the views, and began descending as the clouds rolled in once again. In total the hike is about 7.5 miles and 2,900 feet.

Views of the Uncompahgre Peak on the ascent

Approaching the Uncompahgre summit (image 1), views looking back from the hike up to the top (image 2, 3), view from the saddle (image 4), a look at Wetterhorn and Matterhorn on the right from the summit of Uncompahgre (image 5)

Sean Packard