Mt. Sherman (14,046')

Date:  June 30, 2012

Climbing Party:  Aaron Dover, Amanda Harnden, Kelsey Breen, Kathryn Young, Jen Hock, Jason Murray, Sally Webster
Elevation Gain: 2,036'
Distance: 5 miles

RT Time: 3:50
Difficulty:  Easy

Most folks will tell you for your first attempt at a 14er, to go try Mt. Bierstadt.  I think I'll start recommending Mt. Sherman.  Sure, Bierstadt is closer to Denver, and the newly paved Guanella Pass Road makes getting there a cinch.  Sherman  is a little farther away from Denver (maybe 2 hours) depending on how much you and your crew need to stop. 

No one has heard of Mt. Sherman it seems!  You guys are hiking where? Where's that?  Mt. Sherman? Yes Mt. Sherman.  Just outside of Fairplay off of Rt. 285, you may or may not see Mt. Sherman from the road.  It kind of fits in with the rest of the surroundings...a very nondescript peak on the horizon.   

We made camp at about 9pm off of the side of the road.  Just before getting to the start of the trailhead, it becomes private property, so we camped off the side of the road.  Great camping along this road by the way.

Fire ban campfire.

We woke up in the morning at the crack of 3:45am, and hit the trail a little after 5.  This is a shorter hike, but it was Kat's last chance to see the sunrise at this elevation before moving to NYC, so we decided the early start was the way to go.  The way up to the trail head was pitch black obviously, and the road was a little sketchy.  There is no sign denoting the start of the trail head, so after some hemming and hawing we realized the iron gates was where the trail head was.  Very simple approach.  Up a dirt road, past some abandoned silver mines.  Follow the dirt road all of the way to huge mine that looks like a drive in theater.  These mines, we researched, harvested over 100,000 ounces of silver back in the days they were operational!  I can hear the miners now...'there's silver in these mountains...'  Made me think of Arrested Development  ...'there's money in that banana stand.'  Anyway, sidetracked.  Bear left towards the pile of gray rock, get up on the ridge line and follow it to the summit!  Simple. Straightforward. Beautiful.  Great views of Leadville, Turquoise Lake, Massive and Elbert. 

Fav shot of the day

On the way down, Scarlet got into it with a pica.  I have seen her rummage in the rocks before for things making noise, but on this day, June 30, she actually caught one!  I looked over just in time to see her with it in her mouth, and then she flung it up in the air and caught it again before I could get over to her.  She was moving large rocks with her paws and even teeth.  I am not so sure that the caloric gain from the pica would have equaled or surpassed that which was expended in the hunt.  In fact, I think that to break even she would have required to catch and eat 7.2 picas.

Standard Pica

Group Vitamin D therapy on way down.

Thanks to our 5am start, we encountered scores of people making the trip up to the summit of Sherman.  Seemed all of them were pouring sweat, and they all asked us the same question:  "What time did you guys start???"  It pays to get an early start. Every. Damn. Time!  Not only did we escape the heat and crowds, we got back to the car at like 9:15 in time to get into Fairplay for breakfast.  Side note: Java Moose is no joke...a great place to grab great bfast.  We were back in Denver around 11:30 wondering what to do with the rest of our day:)