Day 1
We started backpacking south of the Taos Ski Resort in New Mexico, Saturday August 23, 2008. From the ski area the dirt road is a little rough for the several mile trip to the parking area, and in most cases a passenger car should work, but a high clearance vehicle is recommended. We hiked on a nice trail, Williams Lake Trail 62, following a pretty little stream into the Wheeler Peak Wilderness. My son Garret Robinson and I Phil, hiked to Williams Lake. We set up base camp southwest of the lake below a beautiful waterfall in a blue spruce forest. We hiked 2.6 miles for the day. Garret brought along a very nice new Sierra Design 3-person tent. He set it up in a gorgeous setting, in a little meadow surrounded by boulders, with the highest peak of New Mexico as a back drop. We set up a rainfly just in case we had a big rain. I brought a hammock along and it was sure luxurious relaxing in it. There were marmots in the area, and has happens many times we were watched by curious Grey Jays. Garret took a little nap, then we started a campfire letting it burn down to coals which we then cooked T-bone steaks over the embers. I brought my Dragon Fly liquid stove and we cooked Rice-a-Roni and had mini-bagels. Wow, what a delicious meal! Things always taste better in the great outdoors. We restoked the campfire and enjoyed sitting around it in the evening. We went to bed early, enjoying the beautiful sound of the waterfall all night.
Day 2
The second day we started hiking at 7:15 AM planning to go up the cliff face of Lake Fork Peak. The skies were crystal clear blue. We had to climb over many boulders. We got about half way up and it began to feel a little risky at times. We did a little bit of rock climbing and it looked like we were going to have to climb up a cliff face in a dangerous area, so we decided to go back down and around the south side of the peak and scramble up. Sometimes we had to scramble on all fours. We saw more marmots and the peak meadows were covered with beautiful yellow and pink wildflowers. We made it to the top of beautiful Lake Fork Peak, elevation 12,881. We had a climbing elevation gain of 2620 feet. Clouds were coming into the area. We saw big horn sheep from the top. My son and I debated whether to hike Vallecito Mountain or peak 12,819. We decided to hike Vallecito. *The distance was 1.45 miles as the crow flies, but when we hiked, it took us about 5 hours to get back to the same location. My son was having trouble with his knees. The sky was totally covered with black cumulonimbus clouds. We were met with lots of rain and hail along the hike and we were concerned about lightning. We reached majestic Vallecito Mountain, elevation 12,643. I looked back and could see lightning cracking on Lake Fork Peak with powerful booms. The ground was turning white with hail. We had to re-hike our first peak to get out. It was pretty spooky because we would have been the highest points on the ridge, a lightening magnet, and there was no other way to go. I said a deep prayer to my God and Lord Jesus Christ, and amazingly, immediately, the clouds and lightning cleared off Lake Fork peak. Wow! Thank you God! Our second day hike took hike 11 hours and 45 minutes and we hiked about 8.5 miles for the day. We did not have to fully hike Lake Fork Peak a second time. When we got back Garret panned for gold. He didn’t find anything worthwhile. Garret brought the second night’s dinner and we had delicious fajitas. We enjoyed an evening campfire and went to bed early.
Day 3
We woke up to a beautiful cool misty morning. The skies were crystal clear blue, yet there was mist all around; in the grass, near the trees, and suspended all around us. As the sun shined through the mist it made halo lines coming from the sun. The dew-covered plants sparkled mini-rainbows. The air was so fresh you could almost taste it. It was truly magical! One of my favorite wilderness breakfasts are fresh sausages and eggs. I brought a half a packet of sausage, fried it up, and when it was almost done added 6 eggs that I brought in a triple sealed bag. I added a little salt and pepper and the breakfast couldn’t have been much better. We packed up and followed the nice trail near the little stream back to the parking area. Again, one of my favorite things in life is backpacking with my son Garret. We hiked a total of 13.8 miles for the 3 days and had an up-down 4527 feet.

YouTube Video on this hike - PART 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyEX3-McO2k
YouTube Video on this hike - PART 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq1eQGcv3Xo

See pictures of highest peaks in New Mexico: 1 of 62 of highest 184 NM peaks. Part 1 YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAjCsjbhYMw
See pictures of highest peaks in New Mexico: 63 of 124 of highest 184 NM peaks. Part 2 YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrFMjoB9zNY

List of highest 184 peaks in New Mexico (Now 190) A very inclusive list!
https://peakbagger.com/list.aspx?lid=-925606&cid=1477

Pictures of Lake Fork Peak Hike
https://peakery.com/lake-fork-peak-new-mexico/summits/16927/

The straight line on the GPS is a Mistake