Mt. Sherman is generally considered to be the easiest of Colorado's 54 14ers to scale. For this reason it is the first 14er for many a hiker. For us, however, it was the 8th mountain over 14,000 feet we climbed together. We made it to the top on September 7, 1996.
Mt. Sherman is the southernmost mountain over 14,000 feet in the Mosquito Range and lies due west of the town of Fairplay, a mining town (gold) founded in 1859. Take US 285 south from Fairplay about a mile to the Fourmile Creek National Forest Road, then a right on a dirt road which leads to the old mining town of Leavick. There's a campground before you reach Leavick where you can spend the night if you want an early start, otherwise you could easily stay in Fairplay and make the drive in the morning. The "town" of Leavick is now private properties; you can't legally camp there.
If you've got a
four-wheeler (we don't), you can take a jeep road up to 12,200 feet and the Dauntless
mine. Looking due north you will have a good view of Sherman's summit. From here, a
road/trail leads northwest, then north, then finally west up to the Hilltop Mine at about
12,900 feet (photo at right), which is worth a walk around if you've time. Traveling
almost due west from the mine, hike up to the saddle between Mt. Sherman and Mt. Sheridan
(13,748 ft.) to the southwest. From here, it's an easy stroll up Sherman's southwest ridge
to the summit.
We've not had good luck with the weather on the Mosquitos. Once we got above 13,000 feet on Sherman we were completely enveloped in clouds. At the summit our visability was limited to about 20 feet. Be sure and take warm and rainproof clothing on the Mosquitos: of the five 14ers we have climbed in the range, four of them had these weather conditions on top. For the one we had good weather on the summit, we had to endure a night of cold rain beforehand.
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page