Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods, beginning at Taos Ski Valley Date Climbed: August 26, 2004
It was a super windy summit, but well worth the 9 mile hike. It was unseasonably cold and abnormally windy. I met a dog at the top that had climbed Wheeler 4 times! We went down the Williams Lake trail, which I highly recommend. It shortens the return trip by about 4 miles, and the scree-skiing is too fun!
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods Trail - Williams Lake Date Climbed: 18 Sept 2004
We arrived at the trailhead at 0600 and headed up the trail. The first couple of hundred yards are confusing in the dark with the multiple trails. The Bull trail is very nice with great views. We made it to the summit in 4.5 hours. We only ran into 10-15 people so it wasn't much of a crowd. We took the Williams Lake route back to the trailhead due to the stormy weather that moved in. The first 1000 of altitude loss is a pain(ful). The scree field is rough. Having done Williams Lake trail down I'd rather have returned along the Bull trail. Great views and an excellent day out!
This excellent mountain page had all the beta needed to climb Wheeler Peak.
Route Climbed: Williams Lake Date Climbed: September 5, 2004
This was peak number two on my 24 hour, three state highpoint tour. The other two were Black Mesa, Ok., and Guadalupe Peak, Texas. Started from the trailhead at 4:00 am and reached the top around 7:15 after a very windy, cold hike up the west face. Lots of fun with headlamps! Some light ice and snow near the top. Great views all around. Didn't see anybody else until I was almost back to Williams Lake. If you want to miss the crowds, definately try an early morning hike.
Route Climbed: East Fork Date Climbed: September 5, 2004
Cold and windy for a September day with temperatures in the mid 30's and winds 30-40 mph. A light dusting of snow fell the night before above 12,000' feet. Saw two bighorn sheep right at timberline and a mess of people on the summit. Third time is a charm.
Route Climbed: East Fork Date Climbed: July 4, 2004
The SummitPost website and the other print guides understate the amount of traffic on Wheeler, particularly on a holiday weekend, thus making the summit experience less than climactic. Is it really necessary to make cell phone calls from the peak?
Having said that, the East Fork route seems to be the lesser used and lesser exposed route. Also, Horseshoe Lake (or "U-Horse Lake", as it is written on a certain sign) is the real gem of the trail. Old Mike would be a more interesting peak to hike on a subsequent trip.
Route Climbed: Williams Lake Date Climbed: July 2001
Steep climb and a very warm day, but Williams Lake was really beautiful. All five of us reached the summit and, for once, didn't get chased off by ominous thunderheads.
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods/Williams Lake loop Date Climbed: May 22, 2003
Mike and I decided to start the official hiking season by heading south to Taos New Mexico and hike up there highest peak. From the summit the views were excellent. The peak due south is named Old Mike Peak and is 13,100 feet and looked to me to be higher than Wheeler but oh-well we were at the highest point in New Mexico. We were the four and fifth persons to sign the summit log in the past three months.
Back at the car Mike couldn’t find his wallet and thought that he left it on the summit, later I called Alen Ellis a SummitPost Member that was going to hike the summit in two days and asked him to keep his eyes open for the wallet.
Wheeler was an excellent hike in a beautiful area, it is much harder that Elbert when it comes to state highpoints. Taos Ski Area is very nice, not to big and not to commercial, yet. As for Mike finding his wallet, Alen never found it and they took the exact same route as we did, but Mike received a call three days later. A guy was hiking down from a peak that he had skied down and found his wallet. Wow how about that.
Route Climbed: Williams Lake Trail Date Climbed: August 31, 2003
It was very cool for late August, when we left the parking lot it was 44 degrees. It was an easy, fun trip. My only gripe is how many people were camping out on the summit when I got there. Anyway, it was a good trip.
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods Date Climbed: September 1,2002
Started up from the Taos Ski basin, past all the campers. The trail is not technically challenging, but it is long. We got to see varied scenery some very beautiful, some very barren and plain. The view from the top is great. A very satisfying climb.
Route Climbed: Up Bull of the Woods, down Williams Lake Date Climbed: June 2, 2003
Excellent weather conditions; had the opportunity to do some glissading on the way down. I'm happy I got the chance to experience both of these routes. Undoubtedly my favorite state high point to date.
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods, Williams Lake loop Date Climbed: June 29
Great hike, t-storms drew near but failed to follow through on their threats. Descending the Williams Lake route was fine, although hikers have made quite a mess of the slope, as in places no one trail exists. In the interest of preserving the vegetation, I would recommend not to descend this route. Bull of the Woods route is rather gentle, a fun hike. PICS
Route Climbed: Bull-of-the-woods ascent/Williams Lake descent Date Climbed: May 24, 2003
Climbed with husband, Alan and son, Andrew, who both beat me to the summit. Still much snow on the trail. We had to do some guessing on our route finding because of the snow, but didn't encounter any real problems. Had to bail from the summit to avoid the thunder storm coming in. Headed towards William's Lake. Had a horrible bushwack around the east side of the lake...class 4 rock climbing moves in wet boots inches from the still, very icy water of the lake. I did learn how to glissade though..weee! Great fun.
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods Trail Date Climbed: Labor Day, 1992
Every New Mexico climber/backpacker is required to climb Wheeler Peak at some point in his or her life. I climbed it with Mike Cassissa over labor day, and camped in the last grove of trees before tree line. Excellent weather and great views for miles. Not a technical climb by any means, but the 7 mile trail to the summit can be grueling, especially when carrying a large pack.
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods Date Climbed: Sept 1995
There's an interesting story behing this one!
I had recently located to Oklahoma and was feeling pretty sour because for the most part, Oklahoma is pretty darn flat. So a friend and I were lounging around, and for gee-whiz purposes, looked up the highest point in Oklahoma. It was the Black Mesa (5,200ft +/-), located in the corner of Oklahoma bear the Colorado border. I jokingly said, you know, being the outstanding mountaineers that we are, we should go there just to say that we've been to the highest point in Oklahoma. My friend looked at me and grinned -- spontanaity took over from there.
The next morning, we hopped in the truck and made the 5 hour drive to the infamous Black Mesa. After a 45 minute walk, we were standing on the highest point in all of Oklahoma! (super-sarcasm here)
He looked at me and said, you know, New Mexico's the next State over...
We were off.
4 1/2 hours later, we found ourselves in Taos, New Mexico....and laughing at the fact that we were on an adventure that had no plans and no agenda.
We scooted up to 9,000ft in the truck and camped out for the night. The next morning we woke up at 5am and hit the Bull of the Woods trail. We trucked right along and once we reached 12,500ft, our lungs reminded us of the fact that we were sea-level creatures, and no longer used to the heights we were once used to.
An hour or so later, we topped out during a beautiful day. We decided to slide down the talus slope to Williams Lake and then back out through the ski area to our truck. A 10 1/2 drive brought us back to Oklahoma City with big stupid grins on our faces -- not a bad weekend for a couple of guys who were sitting around Friday night with beers in hand and nothing to do...
ChuckO - Oct 8, 2004 4:41 pm
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods Date Climbed: july 2001Great hike, beautiful country!
jenniferdenoya - Oct 5, 2004 10:19 pm
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods, beginning at Taos Ski Valley Date Climbed: August 26, 2004It was a super windy summit, but well worth the 9 mile hike. It was unseasonably cold and abnormally windy. I met a dog at the top that had climbed Wheeler 4 times! We went down the Williams Lake trail, which I highly recommend. It shortens the return trip by about 4 miles, and the scree-skiing is too fun!
granddeity - Sep 21, 2004 8:53 am
Route Climbed: Williams Lake Date Climbed: September 18, 2004A nice day, ran in to a little rain on the way back.
Haliku - Sep 19, 2004 10:38 pm
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods Trail - Williams Lake Date Climbed: 18 Sept 2004We arrived at the trailhead at 0600 and headed up the trail. The first couple of hundred yards are confusing in the dark with the multiple trails. The Bull trail is very nice with great views. We made it to the summit in 4.5 hours. We only ran into 10-15 people so it wasn't much of a crowd. We took the Williams Lake route back to the trailhead due to the stormy weather that moved in. The first 1000 of altitude loss is a pain(ful). The scree field is rough. Having done Williams Lake trail down I'd rather have returned along the Bull trail. Great views and an excellent day out!
This excellent mountain page had all the beta needed to climb Wheeler Peak.
simmons283 - Sep 12, 2004 11:17 pm
Route Climbed: Williams Lake Date Climbed: September 5, 2004This was peak number two on my 24 hour, three state highpoint tour. The other two were Black Mesa, Ok., and Guadalupe Peak, Texas. Started from the trailhead at 4:00 am and reached the top around 7:15 after a very windy, cold hike up the west face. Lots of fun with headlamps! Some light ice and snow near the top. Great views all around. Didn't see anybody else until I was almost back to Williams Lake. If you want to miss the crowds, definately try an early morning hike.
DukeJH - Sep 7, 2004 4:37 pm
Route Climbed: East Fork Date Climbed: September 5, 2004Cold and windy for a September day with temperatures in the mid 30's and winds 30-40 mph. A light dusting of snow fell the night before above 12,000' feet. Saw two bighorn sheep right at timberline and a mess of people on the summit. Third time is a charm.
pennibocker - Sep 2, 2004 11:48 pm
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods Date Climbed: July 7, 2001The summit area was crowded with bighorn sheep. My first summit above 13,000 feet.
wbass - Jul 6, 2004 7:09 pm
Route Climbed: East Fork Date Climbed: July 4, 2004The SummitPost website and the other print guides understate the amount of traffic on Wheeler, particularly on a holiday weekend, thus making the summit experience less than climactic. Is it really necessary to make cell phone calls from the peak?
Having said that, the East Fork route seems to be the lesser used and lesser exposed route. Also, Horseshoe Lake (or "U-Horse Lake", as it is written on a certain sign) is the real gem of the trail. Old Mike would be a more interesting peak to hike on a subsequent trip.
bc44caesar - Feb 16, 2004 1:04 pm
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods Trail Date Climbed: 9 Aug 2003Nice day with incredible views of thunderstorms all around - except where we were! Round trip 5.5 hrs
sbkelley - Jan 23, 2004 1:27 pm
Route Climbed: Williams Lake Date Climbed: July 2001Steep climb and a very warm day, but Williams Lake was really beautiful. All five of us reached the summit and, for once, didn't get chased off by ominous thunderheads.
Grant - Dec 16, 2003 8:27 pm
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods/Williams Lake loop Date Climbed: May 22, 2003Mike and I decided to start the official hiking season by heading south to Taos New Mexico and hike up there highest peak. From the summit the views were excellent. The peak due south is named Old Mike Peak and is 13,100 feet and looked to me to be higher than Wheeler but oh-well we were at the highest point in New Mexico. We were the four and fifth persons to sign the summit log in the past three months.
Back at the car Mike couldn’t find his wallet and thought that he left it on the summit, later I called Alen Ellis a SummitPost Member that was going to hike the summit in two days and asked him to keep his eyes open for the wallet.
Wheeler was an excellent hike in a beautiful area, it is much harder that Elbert when it comes to state highpoints. Taos Ski Area is very nice, not to big and not to commercial, yet. As for Mike finding his wallet, Alen never found it and they took the exact same route as we did, but Mike received a call three days later. A guy was hiking down from a peak that he had skied down and found his wallet. Wow how about that.
jomal - Nov 21, 2003 2:22 am
Route Climbed: Williams Lake Date Climbed: June 03Spent the night at William's Lake. Very foggy when we climbed it, but the clouds opened up at the top for a bit so we could see around us...
It was an awesome climb, my first climb above 13.
charms - Sep 1, 2003 7:07 pm
Route Climbed: Williams Lake Trail Date Climbed: August 31, 2003It was very cool for late August, when we left the parking lot it was 44 degrees. It was an easy, fun trip. My only gripe is how many people were camping out on the summit when I got there. Anyway, it was a good trip.
F/MLanter - Aug 16, 2003 3:15 pm
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods Date Climbed: September 1,2002Started up from the Taos Ski basin, past all the campers. The trail is not technically challenging, but it is long. We got to see varied scenery some very beautiful, some very barren and plain. The view from the top is great. A very satisfying climb.
koz - Jul 11, 2003 6:01 am
Route Climbed: Up Bull of the Woods, down Williams Lake Date Climbed: June 2, 2003Excellent weather conditions; had the opportunity to do some glissading on the way down. I'm happy I got the chance to experience both of these routes. Undoubtedly my favorite state high point to date.
Felsberg - Jun 30, 2003 6:21 pm
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods, Williams Lake loop Date Climbed: June 29Great hike, t-storms drew near but failed to follow through on their threats. Descending the Williams Lake route was fine, although hikers have made quite a mess of the slope, as in places no one trail exists. In the interest of preserving the vegetation, I would recommend not to descend this route. Bull of the Woods route is rather gentle, a fun hike. PICS
cruzit - May 25, 2003 6:59 pm
Route Climbed: Bull-of-the-woods ascent/Williams Lake descent Date Climbed: May 24, 2003Climbed with husband, Alan and son, Andrew, who both beat me to the summit. Still much snow on the trail. We had to do some guessing on our route finding because of the snow, but didn't encounter any real problems. Had to bail from the summit to avoid the thunder storm coming in. Headed towards William's Lake. Had a horrible bushwack around the east side of the lake...class 4 rock climbing moves in wet boots inches from the still, very icy water of the lake. I did learn how to glissade though..weee! Great fun.
dsnell - Dec 18, 2002 3:29 pm
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods Trail Date Climbed: Labor Day, 1992Every New Mexico climber/backpacker is required to climb Wheeler Peak at some point in his or her life. I climbed it with Mike Cassissa over labor day, and camped in the last grove of trees before tree line. Excellent weather and great views for miles. Not a technical climb by any means, but the 7 mile trail to the summit can be grueling, especially when carrying a large pack.
kullaberg - Nov 30, 2002 10:05 am
Route Climbed: from ski area Date Climbed: june 2001simple ascent w my dog on the way to a wedding in taos. 6hrs or so round trip
bps - Jul 22, 2002 8:00 am
Route Climbed: Bull of the Woods Date Climbed: Sept 1995There's an interesting story behing this one!
I had recently located to Oklahoma and was feeling pretty sour because for the most part, Oklahoma is pretty darn flat. So a friend and I were lounging around, and for gee-whiz purposes, looked up the highest point in Oklahoma. It was the Black Mesa (5,200ft +/-), located in the corner of Oklahoma bear the Colorado border. I jokingly said, you know, being the outstanding mountaineers that we are, we should go there just to say that we've been to the highest point in Oklahoma. My friend looked at me and grinned -- spontanaity took over from there.
The next morning, we hopped in the truck and made the 5 hour drive to the infamous Black Mesa. After a 45 minute walk, we were standing on the highest point in all of Oklahoma! (super-sarcasm here)
He looked at me and said, you know, New Mexico's the next State over...
We were off.
4 1/2 hours later, we found ourselves in Taos, New Mexico....and laughing at the fact that we were on an adventure that had no plans and no agenda.
We scooted up to 9,000ft in the truck and camped out for the night. The next morning we woke up at 5am and hit the Bull of the Woods trail. We trucked right along and once we reached 12,500ft, our lungs reminded us of the fact that we were sea-level creatures, and no longer used to the heights we were once used to.
An hour or so later, we topped out during a beautiful day. We decided to slide down the talus slope to Williams Lake and then back out through the ski area to our truck. A 10 1/2 drive brought us back to Oklahoma City with big stupid grins on our faces -- not a bad weekend for a couple of guys who were sitting around Friday night with beers in hand and nothing to do...