Uncompahgre
Peak
The name comes from the Ute word for nearby hot springs, variously translated as "red water spring" or "dirty water" — a reference to the Uncompahgre River that early Spanish records rendered as Ancapagari. An 1873 Army reconnaissance under Lt. E.H. Ruffner mapped the peak as Mount Chauvenet before the Ute name took hold; the U.S. Board on Geographic Names fixed the current spelling in 1907. Topographers Franklin Rhoda and A.D. Wilson made the first recorded ascent in 1874, using it as a triangulation station for the Hayden Survey's map of the San Juans.
The peak anchors the surrounding wilderness area, itself renamed: Congress designated it the Big Blue Wilderness in 1980, and the name reverted to the older Uncompahgre Wilderness in 1993. In September 1894, Army Signal Corps crews flashed heliograph messages from the summit to a station on Mount Ellen, Utah, 183 miles away, using mirrors just 8 inches across — a world distance record for terrestrial optical signaling that has never been broken.
SOURCE Wikipedia — Uncompahgre PeakNo fee or permit; Uncompahgre Wilderness (GMUG NF). Henson Creek Rd is the Lake City side of the seasonal Alpine Loop — Engineer Pass was closed the first two weeks of June 2026, but the Nellie Creek turnoff 5 mi from town opens earlier (alpineloop.info; 14ers.com route page). // Wetterhorn side: No fee or permit; Uncompahgre Wilderness. North Henson Rd is rougher than Henson Creek Rd but passable for most good-clearance vehicles (14ers.com, checked 2026-07); same Alpine Loop spring-opening caveat as Nellie Creek (alpineloop.info).