Approach
Park at Bull of the Woods trailhead at the ski area. See the Getting There section on the main page for details.
Route Description
Beginning elevation ~9237 ft
Lake Fork Peak (High Point ): 12,881 ft
UN 12819: 12,819 ft
Elevation gain: 3644 ft
Distance: Approx 5 miles to UN 12819 summit
Climb to the summit of Kachina Peak. Use the
Taos Ski Valley Route as a reference.
From the summit of
Kachina Peak head south toward
Lake Fork Peak. You will hike down a couple hundred feet before starting your ascent of Lake Fork Peak. Scramble up class 3 rocky slope to the top of a false summit ~12,480 feet. Continue south along the ridge and climb to the sumit of Lake Fork Peak at 12,881 ft. From the summit, UN 12819 is visible and the route is obvious. Hike down to the saddle ~12,290 ft and climb the tundra to the summit of UN 12819. It takes about 5 hours to reach this summit from the ski area base. I had intended to return via the same route, but was chased off the mountain by a thunderstorm. Climb down to the saddle between Lake Fork Peak and UN 12819. From here you’ll be hopping a lot of boulders and surfing some scree for a couple of hours before reaching Williams lake. Follow the trail north ~ 3 miles to the trailhead.
Essential Gear
Basic Hiking shoes should be sufficient for this climb. Be prepared for thunderstorms during the summer months
Miscellaneous Info
If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.
hgrapid - Oct 31, 2012 7:26 pm - Hasn't voted
Still under construction?This has been under construction for 7 years it seems? Also, why is this attached to Wheeler Peak? Shouldn't it be attached to the other three peaks?
Midlife Mountaineer - Nov 1, 2012 10:53 am - Hasn't voted
Re: Still under construction?Good catch on my page, I've corrected it. I wrote this route for the Bighorn Peak page because you have to summit Kachina and Lake Fork on the way to Bighorn. Scotthsu added it to his Wheeler Peak Wilderness page because these peaks are located in this wilderness area.