July 6th Diane and I got a late start on this hike. We made it up to 11,800 feet before a storm moved in and chased us off the peak with it's rain, hail, thunder & lighting.
We returned on July 20th and made a successful summit. This time we hit the trailhead at 5 AM so we'd beat the afternoon thunderstorms.
We summited at 10 AM. Spent about 45 minutes at the summit and reached the trailhead at about 2 PM. So 9 hours round trip. We didn't break any speed records, but had a great time.
This was a tough hike for two out of shape middle agers but it was well worth it.
We both experienced small bouts of altitude sickness that passed rather quickly. Well maybe they didn't pass but became tolerable is more like it.
The views from the top are phenominal
velodurt - Aug 25, 2006 6:22 pm Date Climbed: Jul 21, 2006
Wheeler Peak Summit
Loved every minute of this beautiful hike. We had a perfect summit day...blue skies, sunshine, and little wind. See our trip report and photo gallery here Wheeler Peak
One of my top ten favorite mountains. The trail is obvious even though it traverses over rock for the last few miles.
I felt sick (sore throat and fever) it rained on me and cleansed me of my illness. A magical place. I think it was 2004 in July.
Renardo - Aug 6, 2006 9:11 pm Date Climbed: Jul 17, 2004
Standard route is a great hike
Got bored in Utah and decided to check this place out. Arrived late at night knowing nothing about the park or mountain. Read a couple signs in the morning and headed up. Overall a great mountain!
seth@LOKI - Jul 25, 2006 4:10 pm Date Climbed: Jun 12, 2003
Climbed the loose but cool North Couloir above the Bristlecone Forest
I have passed Baker and Wheeler several times. Finally on a trip destined for the Palisades of California (and disaster with a fridge sized rock, my right leg, the north face of Polemonium, many painful repels, hoobling accross the Pal glacier, a sore night in tent, a scarry heli ride, a tizzy with the unneccessarry ambulance, and a hot ride home.) Oh, thats another story...
Anyway I had jsut planned to hike to the Bristlecones and maybe to the "glacier" above. We kept on up to the lookers right up a some fun ledges slightly on the face and through the choke of the twisting couloir. Thismiddle section featured large loose boulders that were somewhat unnerving and would be more fun with mid-late may spring snow. The views on this route were awesome! YOu get to see everything. Ondescent we detoured to the pretty lakes west of the peak... Wish I had my fishing pole, I'm not very good but I wouldn't mind trying a Bonneville Trout. We did have a nice grilled steak picnick at the trailhead and then headed on into the night to drive accross the desert without such searing heat until wehit Badwater and the nasty over heating pass out of Death Valley to Big Pine!
A beautiful morning turned into some pretty marginal weather by noon. There were only five people on the mountain that day - including three guys who had made an alpine start and were on the summit for sunrise. Saw lots of deer that day and the winds on the ridge were VERY strong. Awesome views. Great experience.
I climbed this one in August, 1972 with my Mom and Dad (Lois and Lawrence) my older brother Barton, and my sister-Jane and my brother Eric. My mom and sister haven't hiked above 13,000 feet since.
jfrishmanIII - Mar 24, 2006 3:58 am Date Climbed: Oct 15, 2003
Standard Trail
Wonderful afternoon, lots of solitude. I only saw two other hikers, just above treeline, who had turned back and tried to deter me with tales of unbearable wind. Not too bad though, and the aspens below were at the height of color.
Route Climbed: normal route Date Climbed: August 16, 2005
Nice hike. Just as I was heading down, some thunder heads started moving in so I stepped up the pace. As I was driving back down to the valley, it got pretty rough up there. I then drove to Moab with these dark clouds behind me most of the way. 1:35 to the top.
Route Climbed: Standard Route Date Climbed: July 5, 2004
The trail is easy up this big mountain. The day started out nice with a clear blue sky. Then the clouds started to build up. When I got to the top I hurried and took pictures. Then all of the sudden the hair on my head stood straight up and my camera shocked me. It was quite an electrifying experience. Everyone on the summit started running back down the trail. Lightning was all around us and it started hailing as we descended down the plateau. It turned out to be a very interesting day.
boisedoc - Sep 12, 2006 4:51 am Date Climbed: Jul 3, 1999
WindyClear but very windy day. Nice views.
LV Hiker - Sep 7, 2006 7:23 pm Date Climbed: Jul 20, 2006
Summited via the standard routeJuly 6th Diane and I got a late start on this hike. We made it up to 11,800 feet before a storm moved in and chased us off the peak with it's rain, hail, thunder & lighting.
We returned on July 20th and made a successful summit. This time we hit the trailhead at 5 AM so we'd beat the afternoon thunderstorms.
We summited at 10 AM. Spent about 45 minutes at the summit and reached the trailhead at about 2 PM. So 9 hours round trip. We didn't break any speed records, but had a great time.
This was a tough hike for two out of shape middle agers but it was well worth it.
We both experienced small bouts of altitude sickness that passed rather quickly. Well maybe they didn't pass but became tolerable is more like it.
The views from the top are phenominal
velodurt - Aug 25, 2006 6:22 pm Date Climbed: Jul 21, 2006
Wheeler Peak SummitLoved every minute of this beautiful hike. We had a perfect summit day...blue skies, sunshine, and little wind. See our trip report and photo gallery here Wheeler Peak
kngalaric - Aug 9, 2006 4:19 am
Loved itOne of my top ten favorite mountains. The trail is obvious even though it traverses over rock for the last few miles.
I felt sick (sore throat and fever) it rained on me and cleansed me of my illness. A magical place. I think it was 2004 in July.
Renardo - Aug 6, 2006 9:11 pm Date Climbed: Jul 17, 2004
Standard route is a great hikeGot bored in Utah and decided to check this place out. Arrived late at night knowing nothing about the park or mountain. Read a couple signs in the morning and headed up. Overall a great mountain!
seth@LOKI - Jul 25, 2006 4:10 pm Date Climbed: Jun 12, 2003
Climbed the loose but cool North Couloir above the Bristlecone ForestI have passed Baker and Wheeler several times. Finally on a trip destined for the Palisades of California (and disaster with a fridge sized rock, my right leg, the north face of Polemonium, many painful repels, hoobling accross the Pal glacier, a sore night in tent, a scarry heli ride, a tizzy with the unneccessarry ambulance, and a hot ride home.) Oh, thats another story...
Anyway I had jsut planned to hike to the Bristlecones and maybe to the "glacier" above. We kept on up to the lookers right up a some fun ledges slightly on the face and through the choke of the twisting couloir. Thismiddle section featured large loose boulders that were somewhat unnerving and would be more fun with mid-late may spring snow. The views on this route were awesome! YOu get to see everything. Ondescent we detoured to the pretty lakes west of the peak... Wish I had my fishing pole, I'm not very good but I wouldn't mind trying a Bonneville Trout. We did have a nice grilled steak picnick at the trailhead and then headed on into the night to drive accross the desert without such searing heat until wehit Badwater and the nasty over heating pass out of Death Valley to Big Pine!
Desert_Solitaire - Jun 28, 2006 4:44 am
Just follow the trail...Really incredible views of the basin and range country, but watch out for those thunderstorms...
Wandering Sole Images - May 15, 2006 10:45 pm Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2004
Normal RouteA beautiful morning turned into some pretty marginal weather by noon. There were only five people on the mountain that day - including three guys who had made an alpine start and were on the summit for sunrise. Saw lots of deer that day and the winds on the ridge were VERY strong. Awesome views. Great experience.
Tracy - Apr 21, 2006 5:09 am
regular route before this was in a National ParkI climbed this one in August, 1972 with my Mom and Dad (Lois and Lawrence) my older brother Barton, and my sister-Jane and my brother Eric. My mom and sister haven't hiked above 13,000 feet since.
jfrishmanIII - Mar 24, 2006 3:58 am Date Climbed: Oct 15, 2003
Standard TrailWonderful afternoon, lots of solitude. I only saw two other hikers, just above treeline, who had turned back and tried to deter me with tales of unbearable wind. Not too bad though, and the aspens below were at the height of color.
SawtoothSean - Dec 31, 2005 12:45 am
Route Climbed: Standard Trail Date Climbed: June 11, 2003Great hike from the beautiful meadows- there was no one else in the park! A little bit of snow at the top and the Bristlecone Forest was amazing!
Bob Sihler - Sep 28, 2005 9:31 pm
Route Climbed: standard Date Climbed: July 11, 2002beautiful hike-- I even had the summit to myself for a few minutes
alpspitze - Sep 9, 2005 3:16 pm
Route Climbed: normal route Date Climbed: August 16, 2005Nice hike. Just as I was heading down, some thunder heads started moving in so I stepped up the pace. As I was driving back down to the valley, it got pretty rough up there. I then drove to Moab with these dark clouds behind me most of the way. 1:35 to the top.
tdoughty - Sep 5, 2005 1:04 pm
Route Climbed: Trail Date Climbed: July '87Great view. That's one hell of a summit carin!
Brian Kalet - Aug 29, 2005 7:46 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Route Date Climbed: Augsut 28, 20053 hours roundtrip
SusanM - Aug 14, 2005 1:00 am
Route Climbed: Via Jeff Davis and up the East face of Wheeler Date Climbed: August 13, 2005What a fun route. Much better than the trail, if you like to climb.
Other summit date: August 7, 2004 via trail.
RenoBob - May 10, 2005 6:02 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Route Date Climbed: 2 times since 1989Always lots of deer on the trail and wind across the ridge line.
mountaingazelle - May 2, 2005 12:56 am
Route Climbed: Standard Route Date Climbed: July 5, 2004The trail is easy up this big mountain. The day started out nice with a clear blue sky. Then the clouds started to build up. When I got to the top I hurried and took pictures. Then all of the sudden the hair on my head stood straight up and my camera shocked me. It was quite an electrifying experience. Everyone on the summit started running back down the trail. Lightning was all around us and it started hailing as we descended down the plateau. It turned out to be a very interesting day.
easleygone - Apr 12, 2005 11:42 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Wheeler Route Date Climbed: Oct 1987Easy climb with beautiful scenery and rugged
ridges and cliffs all around that makes it look
tougher than it is.
Nate D - Mar 4, 2005 4:40 pm
Route Climbed: the easy way Date Climbed: 1985A relatively mild hike for a large and beautiful mountain.