Afternoon in Nellie Creek

Peak Hiked:

Unnamed 13,155’ – 'Non-Compahgre'

~5.65 ,miles/1850' elevation gain

Weekends are always far too short, and this weekend seemed to begin as a comedy of errors/mistakes. Kiefer scraped himself up hiking the Ute Creek trail near Rio Grande Reservoir and unfortunately lost his sleeping bag in the process. He got home late Friday night and after a quick dinner we headed off to bed with the intent of hiking the Sunshine/Dolly Varden group on Saturday. When the alarm went off Kiefer was sound asleep and I didn’t have the heart to wake him after the day he had up in Ute Creek. After we woke up, we headed to Grand Junction and spent the day playing a round of minigolf and enjoying snacks at Handlebar Tap House to get out of the heat. We headed home and decided we would get up early Sunday to hike Non-Compahgre prior to me logging in for work Sunday evening. Kiefer had already hiked Non-Compahgre in November of 2025, but due to the amount of snow on the North Face, and me not feeling my best and moving slow, I took Kaiah back to the trailhead and waited for him while he summited. It was a good choice, as he said the snow slope was sketchier than he thought it would be and would have likely been impossible for Kaiah. Thankfully he was up for a repeat with me, and Kaiah, now that the snow is gone.

This time it was me that didn’t want to wake up, Kaiah had woken me up in the middle of the night and I had a difficult time getting back to sleep after. Instead of leaving the house by 5 AM we were still home eating breakfast at 9 AM. Kiefer asked what I wanted to do, and with a perfect forecast I suggested we stick to the original plan and promptly put in my PTO. It was already hot in Montrose as we hopped into the truck and headed for Lake City ready to spend some time in a beautiful basin and enjoy the lower temperatures.

At the early hour of 11 AM we pulled into town and quickly headed up Nellie Creek, hoping we would get a parking spot at the upper lot with our more than fashionably late start. The 4 vehicles we passed headed down the road gave us confidence we would have a spot waiting for us. Nellie Creek road was still easily passable for our Tacoma, and the other 3 vehicles at the top were also Tacomas. Lower clearance AWD such as Subarus may be able to make it partway up the road. There is a good pullout around 10,500 before the only major obstacle requiring clearance, which was the mud pit area referenced in trailhead reports. It was easily passable in our truck but would present a challenge to lower clearance vehicles. No marmot activity was to be found, so instead of tarping the truck we used peppermint spray around all the tires and wheel wells. I am pleased to say this either worked, or the marmots just had better things to do than head back to Montrose with us.

By 12:15 we were headed up the familiar Nellie Creek trail, which we followed for about a mile and a half before finding an obvious spot to cross the creek and heading south up a tundra slope into the upper basin between Non-Compahgre and Uncompahgre. I don’t have any pictures of this part of the route, but if you leave the trail around 12,200’ you will be able to easily follow the rolling tundra to the rocky/tundra slope leading you to the saddle between Nellie Creek and El Paso Creek to the south. We enjoyed our trek across the tundra, following the path of least resistance before heading up the slope to the saddle.

The slope to the saddle was short-lived, but still muddy from the newly melted snow on the north aspect making each step slippery as we contoured up to the saddle. The saddle is where I started taking pictures. The views of Wetterhorn and Matterhorn across El Paso Creek were gorgeous and we would have enjoyed the view longer if it were not so windy.

I ditched my unnecessary ice ax under a rock at the saddle, put on Kaiah’s booties and headed up the ridge to the summit, following Kiefer’s lead. There is a use trail as soon as you leave the tundra. The initial climb past some towers involved some loose travel, but it was over quickly and we walked on the mostly stable talus social trail to the summit. Looking down the sheer north face into Nellie Creek was reminiscent of looking down the still unclimbed north face of Uncompahgre, probably why 13,155’ has the nickname of Non-Compahgre.

The views on the summit were fantastic, but the most exciting part of the summit were the elk frolicking in El Paso Creek 1000’ below us. We were able to hear the calves crying for their mothers and enjoyed them romping while we snacked and refueled for the hike out.

The ridge had felt long on the way to the summit, but it was over before we knew it on the descent and soon, we were back on the saddle. I was happy to see that my ice ax leash had not taken any marmot damage while we summited and after attaching it back to my pack, we headed down the slope. To avoid the worst of the slippery mud Kiefer and Kaiah took a more direct route down, skirting a snowfield to the right prior to gaining the tundra below. I took the snowfield down with a quick glissade. The snow was soft enough that I was able to kick my heels in and walk myself down and I quickly joined Kiefer and Kaiah below.

We stayed to the right of the upper basin heading back to the trailhead and instead of crossing the creek higher we took a grassy gully down to Nellie Creek below. We were rewarded with views of a stunning waterfall that is not visible from the main trail.

After taking a few photos of the waterfall, we convinced Kaiah to cross the creek and headed along the banks rejoining the trail less than a mile from the car. Our route cut some distance and time off our hike, and soon we were back to the car headed back to town. We had an easy drive down Nellie Creek, being the second to last ones up there certainly worked to our benefit and soon we were at Beny’s for a delicious Mexican dinner.

While I can’t recommend always starting 13er hikes at 12:15 PM, with a perfect weather forecast it can be an amazing way to enjoy an afternoon in nature. I didn’t record GPX track, but this annotated GAIA map should help to see our general route.