After driving out to Colorado from Indiana and reaching the highest point in Nebraska along the way, I had a couple days to acclimate. The first full day in the mountains I hiked up Peak 10 near Breckenridge, and then continued south to summit Crystal Peak and then headed east for the tops of Father Dyer and Mount Helen, all peaks over 13,000 feet. The next morning I woke up early, drove to Loveland Pass and hiked up from the continental divide to Mount Sniktau. I was back in Breckenridge 4 hours after leaving, and I re-packed my car and drove down to New Mexico.

4 1/2 hours later I'm at the trailhead for Williams Lake, which leads to the base of New Mexico's highest mountain, Wheeler Peak. I grabbed my backpack and headed off down the trail to Williams Lake. The road leading to the trail was actually steeper and rougher than the trail itself. The first part of the trail passes ski lifts and the Bavarian restaurant, then finally becomes wilderness. A few people were day hiking back from the lake, but other wise it was very quiet and peaceful hiking up the valley among the highest mountains in New Mexico.

A portion of the Williams Lake trail.

Reaching the lake I scouted out where the trail ascended to Wheeler Peak, then found a pine forest in which to setup my tent well back from the lake. I found a rocky vantage point above the lake for cooking dinner and watching the evening skies darken. A father and his two young sons came up the trail and selected a campsite well away from the lake as well. As far as I could tell, we were the only ones camped at the lake this night.

Later in the evening, I returned to the lake's edge to filter water for tomorrow's hike. The stars had come out and were reflected in the lake's still surface joined by a crescent moon.

Woke up at 5:30am and packed up camp in a hurry and returned to my cooking overlook for a quick breakfast and coffee to go. If the coffee didn't wake me up, the steep climb from the Williams Lake valley certainly did. For some reason the trail climbs nearly straight up from the lake following an avalanche path and a scree field. Uggh. This became one of the very few times I have ever used a trekking pole when I was hiking up hill.

As I neared the ridgeline, the wind grew stronger and just like on Mount Sniktau the day before, I wished I'd packed some gloves. As I hit the ridge, the wind wanted to blow me sideways, and would grab my pack and try to turn me around. At first, I wasn't sure whether I had to go right or left to reach Wheeler's summit. From the map I figured I should go right, but the peak on my left obviously had a cairn and flag on the summit. On my right was a smaller hump, but it obscured what ever lay beyond it, so I calculated it would be quicker to go over the hump and see what lay beyond the head to the summit on my left.

The final section of the hike to the summit of Wheeler Peak.

As it turned out, heading right was correct, and after a series of small rises I reached the summit of Wheeler Peak. I was never so happy to see a windbreak on a summit before. After warming myself in the sun, which was just breaking over the clouds in the large valley to the east, I signed the summit register and took some pictures.

The summit register on top of Wheeler Peak.

Looking at my watch, it had only taken me about 1 hour and 20 minutes to climb up here from Williams Lake with a full pack. It took me half that to descend again, boot skiing down the same scree that had been so maddening on the way up.

Two hours after leaving Wheeler Peak's summit I was back in the town of Arroyo Seco having an early morning celebratory ice cream in the cafe. From here, I would drive up through Colorado, Wyoming and Montana to Idaho's Mount Borah.

Williams Lake, at the base of Wheeler Peak, where I camped the night before summiting.