My 20-year old brother Chris joined me for my attempt at Wheeler Peak in northern New Mexico. He drove out the previous day from California and crashed at my apartment in Tempe, then the both of us made the long drive in one day to Taos, arriving well into the late afternoon. We had significant rains and thunderstorms all points north of Albuquerque into the city of Taos. During breaks in the action we could see the mountains completely engulfed in menacingly dark clouds that regularly lit up with lightning bursts. In other words, typical summertime monsoon storms. We took a cheap hotel in Taos that evening, and hoped for the best.

We awoke the next morning to totally clear skies - last night's thunderstorms a distant memory. After getting some supplies and checking in at the National Forest station in town, we finally got moving and arrived at the Taos Ski Valley parking area and trailhead about 9 a.m., where we geared up, threw on the packs and got started up the trails. The Bull-Of-The-Woods route was our choice, opting for the longer and more scenic approach up the mountain rather than the exceedingly steep direct grind that is a popular alternative to the summit. In about an hour of hiking through dense forest cover we came out into the wide Bull-Of-The-Woods meadow, then followed some old roads that encircle the BOTW peak itself. Shortly this section reaches a crest at a small wooden fence, which marks the boundary with the National Forest. We rested here. So far we'd covered about 3 miles and were making good time, with the weather also behaving.

Moving again, we ascended through sparse forest and mostly open high ridge terrain for about another hour, reaching nearly 12,000 feet of elevation before descending steeply into a verdant valley called La Cal Basin. This proved to be a beautiful camping area, and we set up our tent in short order. It had taken us about 3.5 hours to cover these 5 miles, and the weather was holding steady ... sort of. The clouds started to get puffy and form from nowhere, so we knew we might be in for some more action. We spent some time exploring the area, talking with a father-son team also camped nearby, and doing some exploratory hikes. Mostly we just relaxed and enjoyed the solitude, quiet and scents. Sure enough by 4 p.m. we got hit with some squally rains and thunder, but within an hour the storms had dissipated and we were able to get some more goofing-off time outside before the sun set for the evening.

Very early the next morning we awoke and started the hike to the top. We were just a couple miles away from the summit. From out camp we followed the trail as it gained moderately steeply out of La Cal Basin. It switchbacked through some forest cover, then broke into the open and made two long sweeping switchbacks across grassy slopes to gain the main high ridge. We walked southerly toward an obvious peak, and were happy to gain this peak's summit - only to discover it was Walker Peak, which is lower than Wheeler by a few feet. Poor peak, a worthy 13er in its own right, often mistaken for its bigger brother. Even a little sign atop this peak features a poem bemoaning this fact. Fortunately, Wheeler Peak was just a few minutes' walk away, and we were at the top of New Mexico by 7:30 a.m. sharp in very pleasant, cool, dry and spectacular conditions. The sky was cloudless, and we had unlimited views in all directions - the big peaks north in Colorado, more big peaks south of us, and high desert and foothills to our east and west. We stayed for about 20 minutes, snacked, took some photos and made friends with a chubby pika looking for some free grub (he got some).

We descended back to our camp after about an hour of downhill hiking. We disassembled everything and within another half-hour or so were making our way back to the truck. The uphill slog from La Cal Basin to the high ridge was slow going, but overall we made decent time. We took a number of rest stops, partly caused by our being low on water. We finally egressed at 1 p.m. and quickly drove into the Taos Ski Valley shops for some desparately needed gatorade and water. Like clockwork, the thunderheads were building again way above us. The hike was spectacular, a 15-mile round trip journey with about 4,700 feet of gain to make the summit. While many people do it in a day, we enjoyed the campout at La Cal Basin and made for a wonderfully enjoyable two-day outing.

Once we were sufficiently watered and rested we started the drive toward Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where we crashed for the evening. The next day we visited Mesa Verde National Park and the amazing cliff cities there. That took a few hours out of our day, and we made the long drive back to Phoenix that evening, arriving almost around midnight. Chris stayed the night and headed back to California the next day.