ridge stock trail 233 – Wild Wanderer

RT Length: 8.22 miles

Elevation Gain: 2924’

I parked near the lower Matterhorn Creek Trailhead at a nice dispersed camping spot, and was on the trail at 6am the next morning. The trail is an obvious 4WD road, and if your vehicle has made it this far, it will make it to the upper trailhead.

I followed the dirt road alongside Matterhorn Creek to the upper trailhead. There are several dispersed campsites near the upper trailhead as well.

Once at the upper trailhead I continued following the dirt road north

The dirt road is closed at this point, and becomes more of a trail.

I came to a well marked junction and turned right.

From this junction, to the right you can see the ‘road’ you want to take. It’s grown over, and doesn’t look much like a road, but it’s Ridge Stock Trail 233. This is where you’re headed.

I followed this road all the way to just before treeline. It was difficult to follow at times because it was so grown over and there were quite a few downed trees blocking the trail. The higher up I got, the more difficult the road became to follow, as it looks like elk live permanently in the area. The game trails parallel and cross the road, making route finding interesting.

At around 12000’, the road curves around the mountain and I left the road to head northeast along the ridge. I quickly came to treeline.

From treeline, this became a class 2 ridge hike. I followed the ridge northeast.

Here’s the route I took to get to the summit of Broken Hill

This is a ridge hike on tundra all the way to the base of Broken Hill

There’s a summit block at the end of the tundra.

My first thought was to go up one of the class 4 chimneys, but I felt there must be a better way. I scouted around, and found if I headed to the right and around the corner, I could keep this a class 2 hike to the summit. I aimed for here: