The parking lot at the Wheeler Peak trailhead was almost full by the time Soni and I got there. It’s reassuring to climb a mountain with lots of company. The trail to Wheeler Peak starts with the trail to Williams Lake. We’ve hiked up to Williams Lake a few times. It’s a great and relatively short hike to an alpine lake. Soni had hiked up to Wheeler Peak before, but it was my first time. I found it really helped to have some of the trail be familiar. Once we passed the turnoff for Williams Lake, it wasn’t much further until tree line.
It was a beautiful day for it, not too hot, not too cold. We could see weather in the distance once we go to the top, so we ate our lunch quickly and hit the trail back down. We got a few raindrops on us on the way back down, but missed any big weather. Climbing Mt. Elbert last Summer definitely made this climb a lot more enjoyable. I was much better prepared for this mountain, and as it’s a lower elevation, it felt that much easier than Mt. Elbert. I even wanted to run (okay more like jog?) down part of the mountain, after seeing a few trail runners on the path. I would love to make this hike an annual tradition. Or maybe next year we cross some more New Mexico mountains off our mountain wish list….