Wheeler/Latir Peak instead of Pecos Wilderness?

[Michael Ray]

While his older brother is at Philmont I was going to take my 8 year old for a couple trips "nearby" (late June, early July). This past summer we did 39 miles in the Wind River Range. I was originally thinking 4 nights in the Pecos followed by 4 nights in the Weminuche but see the former is a bit out of the way of getting to the latter. So I'm now thinking maybe the Wheeler and Latir Peak areas might be better options.

I prefer being above treeline for the scenery. Prefer camping high if winds and weather aren't too bad. We'll have a Lunar Duo. Anyways, I realize it would be 2 shorter loops vs one longer one if we did the Latir/Wheeler option but he's not high mileage (5-10 miles daily). More importantly, I don't want him to get bored so if they are very similar maybe we'd only do one of them. He likes to scramble on rocks and we don't mind off trail as long as it's not more than class 2 for an 8 year old. Definitely want to bag a peak (he's all about beating his brother) though I'm hoping he's up to try Windom Peak in the Weminuche.

So are the Wheeler/Latir Wildernesses dissimilar enough to do both back to back?

Is the Pecos superior in some fashion (other than size of course) that it's worth me to detour there instead?

[HkNewman]

There are differences. The Latir Pks lend themselves to mostly short rocky and/or forested side trips, though loops can be explored and even making mini-loops. Wheeler Pk is accessible by a few trails with lots of "up" to the Wheeler Pk summit – just depends which appeals. The most popular one starting from east of Taos Ski Valley (and condos) is really only good for a direct dayhike. If backpacking I'd take the other options, … I've left a tent below and got an alpine start to summit early AM before the dust rises (another consideration if views are important).

[Michael Ray]

A 14-mile day trip may be a bit much for him unless he's motivated, which he could very well be to bag the highest point in NM. We did something close to that our last day in the Winds (from Indian Basin back out to Elkhart).

I was figuring taking 91 to Horseshoe Lake (or Lost), bag the peak next day and drop into La Cal for the night and go off trail to follow Middle Fork back to the car. But there may be better options.

Since it seems logical to do Wheeler first, I wasn't sure if Latir would seem like a letdown to him though it seems there's a good chance to camp on ridge/mesa tops from pics I've seen and a popular loop going up Bull Creek and around by Heart Lake.

[HkNewman]

@Micheal: After fires closed all other NM forests, we did Latir first and it seemed like a lot of little splendid views vs. Wheeler which is one spectacular view (assuming PM dust isn't an issue). Wheeler attracts a lot of dayhikers from Taos as the day progresses, whereas we had Heart Lk in the Latirs pretty much to ourselves save for some day-anglers. Totally different vibes.

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