The Wheeler Geologic Area is a maze of volcanic rock that takes real effort to reach

Up in the high country northeast of Creede sits one of Mineral County’s strangest sights: the Wheeler Geologic Area. It is a cluster of pale spires, domes, caves, and balanced rocks carved by weather out of old volcanic ash that hardened into rock called tuff. The shapes look almost man-made, but they are pure erosion.

The catch is getting there. Wheeler hides in the southeast corner of the La Garita Wilderness, and there is no easy paved route. You either hike in on the East Bellows Trail (a several-mile walk each way) or take a long, rough four-wheel-drive road that needs a high-clearance rig or an off-road vehicle. Either way, plan on a full day, and check the season first. The area is snowed in for much of the year and is meant for summer.

A few rules protect the place. The drivable road passes through designated wilderness, so vehicles must stay on the marked road and nowhere else. You can use dispersed campsites near the road’s end, but camping and campfires are not allowed inside the rock formations themselves.

Before you point a vehicle up that road, ask the Rio Grande National Forest’s Divide Ranger District about current conditions and what kind of vehicle the route really needs.