Slowly becoming an outcast from society, he took to the lonely mountain since the king under the moutain was allied with the folk of Dale. The Dwarves were more than hospitable but seeing the the mules that pushed carts for they and their mining brothers was more than Ulrich could bare. He could talk to them and they seemed unhappy with their lives. So he formulated a plan to liberate them. On a night, the young magician snuck to the pen and freed the animals. He was met with little Dwarf resistance but conjured images to distract them and avoided that conflict.
Now an outlaw from the king under the mountain, Ulrich could not go home anymore with a price on his head in the region. He fled to the forest of Mirkwood and there he found his master; Radagast the Brown. Radagast was a master of all magic of the earth and beasts. It was he that helped Ulrich be able to tune his wild powers and find order within his inner chaos. Ulrich decided to repay him in any way he could. The wizard informed the apprentice that his visit was prophecised and took him on as a companion and student.
The years flew by and Ulrich realized he had outlived a generation after becoming a wizard. After this he payed little mind to the flow of years as much as what the years contained. Together the two faced down and destroyed a Nazgul attempting to start an empire in the mountains of Angmar and found some renown in that. After this Radagast felt Ulrich was ready to be on his own and left him to his own devices.
Ulrich made a cabin in the woods at the very foot of the Misty Mountains near a blossoming town called Grilnoc. He decided that the region of the moutnains was dangerous enough to warrant his constant supervision and so that is what he did. Villagers made up whatever stories they wanted about him and he became something of a myth of a "green conjurer" for that was the color he wore.
It was in some of his later years when he realized he had a long beard that he briefly helped an Elf named Cimorene and her party at the time. After finding the Elf Melendar that was chasing her she left with word of a new lord of Wizards in Gondor. Despite his misgivings, Ulrichs curiosity won out and he went to Gondor to see just what this business was all about.