Day 3 of 2026 Trip to the Rockies, Wheeler Peak

The third day of my 2026 trip to the Rocky Mountains. I climbed Wheeler Peak outside Taos, New Mexico's highest mountain.

Located outside the town of Taos and at an elevation of 4013m (13167ft), Wheeler Peak stands as the highest mountain in the state of New Mexico. Twice in the past years (link 1, link 2) have I glimpsed its silhouette from passing aircraft, but today I would finally set foot on its summit.

While the weather was largely great for this trip to the Rockies, on this day, June 26, it presented complications. The forecast called for afternoon rain, with the NAM model predicting precipitation around noon and the HRRR suggesting a later onset. (Spoiler alert: the HRRR proved correct.) Either way, I knew I needed an early start to beat the weather. Fortunately, a trail constructed in 2019 linking Williams Lake to Wheeler Peak had significantly shortened the hike to a 13.4km out-and-back with 906m of elevation gain (AllTrails link), which was on the shorter end of my day hikes.

With this in mind, I rose early and arrived at the Williams Lake trailhead at 7:10am. The final 2.6km (1.6mi) of access road were unpaved, yet owing to the trailhead's location within a ski resort, the route remained in surprisingly good condition. After a brief warmup, I set forth on the trail at 7:21am.
Here's GPS tracking:

The first part of the trail followed the floor of a valley towards Williams Lake, starting out in a ski resort. About 640m (0.4mi) from the trailhead, the trail seemingly splitted into two branches (divided by a creek running in between). I took a slight left and followed the Williams Lake Trail on the map, while the AllTrails track angled right onto the opposite branch. The two eventually reconverged. I believed my branch was shorter, but was a bit faint in the latter sections, while the AllTrails branch had more consistent trail conditions.

After the two branches reunited, the route settled into a typical woodland walk until the intersection just before Williams Lake, which I reached at 8:12am.

After a short rest at the intersection, I continued towards Wheeler Peak, where the trail threaded through the woods for a short stretch further.

Eventually, the trail emerged above the tree line, where the views opened up: the ski resort down the valley and the mountains across, but most pleasingly, the continuum of wildflowers in bloom stretching toward higher elevations.

After a series of switchbacks, I reached the saddle between Wheeler Peak and Mount Walter. Along this stretch, I began to feel the wind blowing in from the northwest, while at lower elevations, it had been largely blocked by the surrounding mountains. A right turn at the saddle, and the lovely wildflowers continued to accompany me on the final stretch to Wheeler Peak.

Finally, I reached the summit of Wheeler Peak at 9:45am.

Overall, I felt Wheeler Peak was a remarkably approachable mountain. The trail leading up was neither long nor technical; the summit itself was modest rather than imposing, and it welcomed me with vivid patches of wildflowers dancing in the wind, as if the mountain rejoiced in my reaching the top just as much as I did. Wheeler Peak reminded me of a beloved, retired elder sitting on the porch, watching the world drift by, and if you happened to have the time, he would be more than glad to share the countless tales accumulated over a lifetime. In the end, it rose only slightly above its neighbors to claim New Mexico's highest mountain, a title that it could happily go without.

As for the views from Wheeler Peak, in addition to the Taos Ski Valley which had served as a constant backdrop throughout my ascent, it revealed another valley to the east, less wooded and more prestine.

A few prominent peaks lined the horizon. There was Pueblo Peak, looming behind the town of Taos; the Truchas Peaks, which I had watched from Lake Peak two days prior. But most striking of all was the distant Sierra Blanca Massif, sharing the same Sangre de Christo range, like a radiant youth to the gentle "grandpa" of Wheeler Peak, a spectacle of grandeur when viewed from afar, though one sensed the treachery in its beauty, the kind that beckons the bold and punishes the unwary.

Here's a video from Wheeler Peak:
16 seconds, 1728*3840 resolution, H265 only, 12Mbps/24MB file size.

After spending about 50 minutes on top of Wheeler Peak, I started my descent at 10:35am, and reached the intersection to Williams Lake at noon. The weather was holding beautifully, so I took the short detour to check out Williams Lake, a lovely alpine lake at the end of Taos Ski Valley, with its sapphire waters glittering beneath the sun.
Interestingly, from its shore I could still see the summit of Wheeler Peak.

I left Williams Lake at 12:20pm. following an uneventful stroll, I was back at the trailhead at 1:15pm. With no cellular coverage, I drove back to the ski resort's main parking lot to plan the remainder of my afternoon.

One tantalizing option was Taos Pueblo, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the United States, and home to some of the finest preserved adobe architecture in the state. Yet it closed at 4pm, and once I factored in lunch and the drive, little time would remain. Additionally, wind was picking up with a storm in the forecast, so I didn't think an open-air attraction was a good choice.

So after lunch, instead, I decided to give downtown Taos a walking tour, just like the previous day with Santa Fe. However, Taos's downtown area was much smaller in scale, with its center, Taos Plaza, half walled-off for construction. I was also feeling a bit hot since I was dressed for Wheeler Peak's much cooler summit, so I quickly retreated back to my car.

At this time it was 3:30pm. I figured another attraction, San Francisco de Asís Catholic Mission Church, would close at 4pm. It was just a short drive from downtown Taos, which left me just enough time for a quick tour of this adobe church.

After that, I drove back to the hotel and decided to call it a day. Not long after I retreated to my room, a heavy storm swept into the Taos area, bringing strong winds and lightning. Fortunately, I had long since gotten off the mountain by then.
END