Wheeler Peak (13,161') & Mount Walter (13,133)- New Mexico   by  Brian Schultz  Wednesday    June 8, 2011

Roundtrip mileage: 7 miles from Williams Lake parking lot

Elevation gain: 2,960'

Two routes for Wheeler Peak from the Taos Ski Valley are described in the Wingers' Highpoint Adventures book. I opted for the shorter one and took advantage of the excellent weather forecast to start late today. I began at 7:50 AM from the parking lot and followed the Wingers' directions to the signed Williams Lake Trail.

Lots of winter/spring snow covered the trail above 10,000' but routefinding wasn't a problem because the trees are marked with painted bullseyes. The smell of smoke was strong and the haze from the burning fires in Arizona was intense when I reached Williams Lake at 8:50.

From the lake, the trail steepened and though snow patches covered parts of the slopes below the summit, the snow patches were easy to get around. The smoky skies hadn't cleared yet by the time I reached the summit at 10:50 but the views were still rather nice. After spending twenty five minutes on top, I made the easy side trip to unranked Mount Walter, backtracked to the Walter/Wheeler saddle, and descended without issue to Williams Lake. I finally saw the first hikers of the day approaching the lake, which was their destination as it was for everybody else I talked to coming up the trail.

I took the wrong road down when I reached the ski lift, not realizing there are two roads that closely parallel each other, and it took a few back and forths to get it figured out. I made it to make it back to the parking lot no worse for the wear and chatted with several more people getting ready to hike up to the lake before I departed for Colorado.

Start to finish- 6 hours 10 minutes

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