Wilson
Peak

Wilson Peak carries the same name as its higher neighbor Mount Wilson, both honoring A.D. Wilson, the Hayden Survey's chief topographer — a duplication that led an early Colorado Mountain Club historian to propose renaming the second peak for Franklin Rhoda, Wilson's survey companion, in recognition of Rhoda's own San Juan first ascents. It never was. Before surveyors arrived, the mountain carried a Ute name, Shandoka, meaning "storm maker," a reference to its effect on weather moving through the range.

Public access to the standard Rock of Ages route was cut off in 2005, when Texas developer Rusty Nichols barred the only non-technical approach across his roughly 300-acre parcel; the Trust for Public Land bought about 230 of those acres in 2007, and public access was reported secured again by 2015. Wilson Peak's real fame, though, comes from advertising: its profile has appeared on Coors beer packaging and in Coors television commercials since the mid-2000s.