2 Posted By: AndrewJCraigie Info: Cars were parked about 3 miles from trailhead - snowy past that point, with signs of cars recently been dug / pulled out. | ||||
Posted By: air_septa Info: Made it up to the gate at the trailhead this morning in my 2WD sedan, (Passat, if it is relevant) though I would really recommend against going all the way up with a 2WD low-clearance car unless you have experience navigating rough roads. I was able to get up without bottoming out but not without a lot of criss-crossing around the road and picking the right path through the rocks. The info in mgl45’s post is good - I’ll add you won’t be able to drive all the way up to where your navigation ends (if you’re using Google Maps, at least). There is a gate around 0.3 miles from where Google understood the trailhead to be, preventing you from going any further. Right before this is where the pretty gnarly rock hill was. | ||||
Posted By: mgl45 Info: I went on a scouting mission today of the access road for an upcoming ascent of Sherman. Here are some details I learned that I thought were helpful: *As documented elsewhere, the rough part of the road starts about 1.5 - 1.7 miles from the trailhead (the gate). *In the "rough" section the first half mile or so has lots of rocks and a few ruts. I was in a 2WD Dodge Promaster van, which I think has higher clearance than a typical 2WD car, and really only a few rocks were large enough that I though there was a clearance issue and navigating around them was manageable. *After the first half mile of the rough section, it’s pretty easy going until the last couple hundred yards to the trailhead. There is a hill which has lots of rocks and the rocks are bigger than the previous rough section, many which game me clearance concerns. There are also several big ruts on this hill. I made it up the hill but there was a moment where I was was kind of just going for it. I also don’t have much experience on rough roads so it might have felt worse for me than for an experienced person. In a couple places on this nasty hill there were large sharp looking rocks that were horribly positioned in an otherwise clear line. On the way down I stopped and moved these couple rocks to the side of the road. *There is parking just below this nasty hill, which is at 11,800feet or is only a few hundred yards from the trailhead (12,000 feet). *Overall, managing this road with 2WD is not a traction issue, it’s a clearance issue. *Regarding "when the road is wet". I arrived at the road in the early afternoon and it started lightly raining. I proceeded with caution and found that a light rain really doesn’t seem to cause much of a problem with traction. The only possible exception is the nasty hill on the last few hundred yards mentioned before. On this part of the road the natural drainage for the mountain is the road. When I got there there was a small creek zig zagging down the road. I made it but it hadn’t been raining for long. Again, there is parking just before this nasty hill. The official trailhead description mentions "during the spring" in the statement of caution about when the road is wet. I can totally see that - if there was a lot of run off happening, I could see that changing the traction dynamics significantly. | ||||
Posted By: amalesh Info: The dirt road is a little rough but should be passable at a lower speed in a sedan. Once you get past the 11,000 ft altitude or so, the road does get quite rough - lots of big rocks, and some potholes. I was driving an AWD Ford Edge, but did see a couple of sedans up all the way to the 12,000 ft gate. The quarter mile of the road or so had to be very careful with picking my line and going slow as that was the roughest part of the road. | ||||
Posted By: mholloway987 Info: The road up to the trailhead was bone dry the whole way on a Monday morning. I stopped maybe 150 feet away from the gate at 12,000’ due to a medium sized snow drift because I was already right at the trailhead. The road was rough but my Toyota Highlander did fine with it in 2WD and without any special equipment and I was especially impressed to see a couple sedans that made it a few hundred feet away from the gate. Summer conditions, indeed. | ||||
Posted By: Carl_Healy Info: Only drove to the turn off for Horseshoe Mountain and road was bone dry. Saw plenty of cars of in the distance at Sherman’s main trailhead. The big mound of snow still very much blocking the 4WD road onto Horseshoe. | ||||
Posted By: TheSpaceForce Info: At 0615, plowed/solid road, 3 cars in the lot. By 1000, very muddy near trailhead. The 2WD CR-V made it all the way up and down, but a couple of spots require some thought. Would NOT want to be driving up at 1000. | ||||
Posted By: bsiegs Info: Road is plowed and completely passable to the larger parking area a bit below the 12000’ gate. | ||||
Posted By: Sschweiss Info: Still can only drive to the "if you get stuck" sign, about 8 miles up the road from US285. From there it’s 5 miles to the summit. | ||||
Posted By: 100PeaksAdv Info: With the warm weather this week, the road has gotten even less stable than previous reports. Id recommend stopping 100 or so feet before the Dont go past here- you will get stuck sign. This is about were any visible road stops. If someone remembers the mile marker this is at- feel free to comment. Got stuck today about 25 feet before the sign in a Subaru Outback. Safe travels! | ||||
Posted By: Elysed Info: We parked at the many park here, dont go any further signs, adding an extra 6 miles round trip to the winter SW summit of Sherman. Honestly my boyfriend and I thought we could have made it in his high clearance 4Runner as there was only a few inches of hard packed snow on the road up to the gate and we didnt come close to needing our snow shoes. Guess well never know, walk is long but easy. | ||||
Posted By: Shooter Info: The winter closure is right at 9.0 miles. Most vehicles should be able to make it as the snow prior to is packed down. I have a 4runner and would not have wanted to go any further. This is actually a real good spot to get these peaks from in winter. | ||||
Posted By: Ssgustafson Info: The road was open all the way to the gate at 12,000 feet. Some patches of snow on the road, but nothing significant. There is a large sheet of ice at the gate, but there is ample parking along the road maybe 50 - 100 yards away. Also, the gate to the Fourmile Creek Campground is closed. | ||||
Posted By: CheapCigarMan Info: Snow starts at 10,900’. I parked at 11,500’ but could have went further. A couple of vehicles made it to the gate. Pic was taken at the gate. | ||||
Posted By: topekaavenue Info: Was easily able to get my 2016 Scion TC with 6.3in of ground clearance within 0.4 miles of the gate. Just go slow and choose your lines right when getting closer to the trailhead. | ||||
Posted By: Roald Info: Still clear all the way to the gate at 12000 ft even after storm this week. I didn’t find the road bumpy at all by CO standards. Any Subaru type vehicle or even a car with above average clearance and good driver could make it IMO. | ||||
Posted By: alpinenut Info: Clear all the way to gate at 12K. Bumpy rocky etc just like everyone else says. | ||||
Posted By: Ed_Groves Info: I drove to the Mt Sherman end of 4 Mile Creek Road today and hiked the peak. Also, on 09/05 I hiked Horseshoe Mountain and Peerless Mountain. The road is decent up to the Leavick site. There are a lot of bumps and larger rocks slightly sticking up from the road bed in places but these can be avoided if one pays attention. Thirty miles an hour was comfortable in a few places. About 200 yards past Leavick, the road gets ugly with large rocks sticking up from the road bed, potholes, and dips crossing the road. I go very slow on these, even with 4wd, because I have to drive back to Missouri and don’t want to lose a tire balance weight, knock the vehicle out of alignment, or flatten a tire. After one reaches the left turn onto Silver Horseshoe Drive to drive up to the Horseshoe Mountain Trailhead, the road is very bad as well. However, both the road to Mt Sherman and Silver Horseshoe Drive are very manageable with four wheel drive vehicles. As an aside, a guy drove to the Mt Sherman trailhead with a Honda Del Sol today. I guess driving a two wheel drive car to the trailhead is doable, but I would not recommend it. | ||||
Posted By: matt9094 Info: I definitely recommend a higher clearance vehicle such as an SUV or truck. It is very bumpy, with ruts and holes everywhere that would scrape up a sedan. | ||||
Posted By: schumi248 Info: Hiked horseshoe today, and the road below the leavick site was much smoother than it has been, I did see the grader parked on the side of the road, and it looks like more got done while I was on the mountain. That was a pleasant surprise. | ||||
Posted By: eudyke Info: Road to 12,000ft gate was rough for most of the 11 miles, but very passable for any vehicle. I did not need my 4x4, but you do have to maneuver around a few potholes. Parking at the 12k gate was plentiful even when I left the area at 11:00am. Overall conditions were very good! Note: There are no restrooms at this trailhead. | ||||
Posted By: benjamincolorado Info: Confirming the most recent report - Fourmile Creek Rd is clear. Expect a bumpy ride, but you can make it all the way to the gate. | ||||
Posted By: wolfgangstiller Info: Road is completely dry. Somewhat rough as usual. I won’t drive it without at least high clearance but a Camry and a Civic was parked at the TH. | ||||
Posted By: seayachter Info: Road is drivable and open up to the summer trailhead gate. A couple small spots of snow but doable in a stock 4x4 truck. | ||||
Posted By: weakenedwarrior Info: Similar status as the previous reports, AWD / 4WD can make it to the Leavick site. |
