New Mexico: Wheeler peak (-AZ-NV-CA)

On a vacation trip in south west US, which would turn out very successful, I started off by going to New Mexico's highest mountian: Wheeler peak, which stands just over 4000m (13 100ft).

Having slept in Santa Fe at over 6000ft (around 2000m) elevation I hoped that I had somewhat acclimatized to the coming altitude. And during the early parts of the hike which went through pine forest around 10000 ft in elevation, that was also the case.
However a few other difficulties presented itself. The forest was being shut sown by fire rescue units, which I met a few of. The last period have been extraordinarily dry, so for the sake of safety for people and forests they completely shut down regions under administrative control such as  national forests and park. The kind firefighters allowed me to continue onwards while they proceeded to mark the trails and put tape up indication the shutdown.

At higher altitude the nature is more of an alpine tundra, which does not present much of a fire hazard, but the mountains are known for notoriously bad thunderstorms, such that lightnings are a common cause of fires and devastation. As seen above that was something that did not phase the marmots occupying much of the high elevations.

The path to the top was supposed to be a scramble over cross country and loose scree on a slope. However, there was a recently established new trail, which switchbacked its way up the mountain. it does however extend the distance of the hike. and at a time when AMS (acute mountain sickness) started to kick in with the common symptom of shortness of breath, headache and nausea. Also my fingertips were turning surprisingly purplish, much in accordance to cyanosis, since usually cold makes my fingers loose color and turn pale rather than colored. It passed away though after having reached the top.

On the top it was not only marmots (ground hogs) that fought for my attention, but also chipmunks which were adorable untill it started to nibble on my backpack in search for food...

The picture above shows the ski slopes far in the valley where the trail started, and it also shows the ridge to the right on which an alternative, less steep, but longer trail goes to Wheeler peak also. Below is a photo showing me happily at the top, together with the monument and register to be found there. Lack of clearmindedness though made me forgot to sign the register to mark my 27th highpoint and second ever peak above 4000m. That turned out to be a more common event by the end of the week though. with the addition of 2 more 4000+m peaks.

Finally the shot taken below shows 2 curious animals, one being a large deer (hint: search for the white butt), and also a ground hog (hint: on the lookout).

The downhill path took quite some time even when compared to the ascending. Partly due to the ascending going very smoothly up to about 3400m/11300ft, before the altitude started to affect me more severely...

Stats:
State: New Mexico
High point: Wheeler Peak
Elevation: 13 161 ft (4 011 m)
Date: July 10, 2011
Total elevation to date: 109 401 ft (33 345 m)
Access: Hike, class 1, 5h round trip
Difficulty rating (of 10): 7
Potential Difficulties: New Mexico weather! Avoiding thunderstorms on the peak during monsoon is important. Having the forest "closed" due to extreme drought and fire danger is even harder to predict though!