diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d98622c8604..775216d2571 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@
 * [BUGFIX] Correct block end time when the ingested traces are outside the ingestion slack [#3954](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/3954) (@javiermolinar)
 * [BUGFIX] Fix race condition where a streaming response could be marshalled while being modified in the combiner resulting in a panic. [#3961](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/3961) (@joe-elliott)
 * [BUGFIX] Pass search options to the backend for SearchTagValuesBlocksV2 requests [#3971](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/3971) (@javiermolinar)
+* [BUGFIX] Replace hedged requests roundtrips total with a counter. [#4063](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/4063) (@galalen)
 
 ## v2.5.0
 
diff --git a/modules/querier/external/client.go b/modules/querier/external/client.go
index 1be7dfa1f61..5d601ca01cc 100644
--- a/modules/querier/external/client.go
+++ b/modules/querier/external/client.go
@@ -30,11 +30,11 @@ var (
 		NativeHistogramMaxBucketNumber:  100,
 		NativeHistogramMinResetDuration: 1 * time.Hour,
 	}, []string{"endpoint"})
-	metricExternalHedgedRequests = promauto.NewGauge(
-		prometheus.GaugeOpts{
+	metricExternalHedgedRequests = promauto.NewCounter(
+		prometheus.CounterOpts{
 			Namespace: "tempo",
 			Name:      "querier_external_endpoint_hedged_roundtrips_total",
-			Help:      "Total number of hedged external requests. Registered as a gauge for code sanity. This is a counter.",
+			Help:      "Total number of hedged external requests.",
 		},
 	)
 )
diff --git a/pkg/hedgedmetrics/metrics.go b/pkg/hedgedmetrics/metrics.go
index 10a29b8a2a1..7b08af935f7 100644
--- a/pkg/hedgedmetrics/metrics.go
+++ b/pkg/hedgedmetrics/metrics.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ const (
 )
 
 // PublishHedgedMetrics flushes metrics from hedged requests every 10 seconds
-func Publish(s *hedgedhttp.Stats, gauge prometheus.Gauge) {
+func Publish(s *hedgedhttp.Stats, counter prometheus.Counter) {
 	ticker := time.NewTicker(hedgedMetricsPublishDuration)
 	go func() {
 		for range ticker.C {
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ func Publish(s *hedgedhttp.Stats, gauge prometheus.Gauge) {
 			if hedgedRequests < 0 {
 				hedgedRequests = 0
 			}
-			gauge.Set(float64(hedgedRequests))
+			counter.Add(float64(hedgedRequests))
 		}
 	}()
 }
diff --git a/tempodb/backend/instrumentation/hedged_requests.go b/tempodb/backend/instrumentation/hedged_requests.go
index f44b6035d15..e85cb5c9809 100644
--- a/tempodb/backend/instrumentation/hedged_requests.go
+++ b/tempodb/backend/instrumentation/hedged_requests.go
@@ -7,11 +7,11 @@ import (
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus/promauto"
 )
 
-var hedgedRequestsMetrics = promauto.NewGauge(
-	prometheus.GaugeOpts{
+var hedgedRequestsMetrics = promauto.NewCounter(
+	prometheus.CounterOpts{
 		Namespace: "tempodb",
 		Name:      "backend_hedged_roundtrips_total",
-		Help:      "Total number of hedged backend requests. Registered as a gauge for code sanity. This is a counter.",
+		Help:      "Total number of hedged backend requests.",
 	},
 )