Mt. Sherman Trip Report 07/21/2014

Peak(s):	Mt. Sherman - 14,043 feet
Date Posted:	07/21/2014
Date Climbed:	07/19/2014
Author:	shark311

Sherman - Iowa Gulch
Took the family including 9yo and 6yo kids up Sherman from the Leadville/Iowa Gulch side. Great day overall. Highly recommend this route to anyone wanting to bag a 14er with young kids. Arrived at the trailhead via the well-maintained 2wd road around 7:15am. The 15 or so cars already present made it hard to miss. Ran into a nice college-age couple who advised us how easy it is to miss the turn-off. About 50 yards down the road from the "parking lot" there is a cairn at which you must turn left (towards the streams). Gorgeous wild-flowers blooming all over the "valley" between the trailhead and the first talus field. Carefully look for the cairns in the talus field, we lost the trail once and the kids made fun of Dad's navigation skills for the remainder of the hike. After ascending out of the talus field (hardest part of the trail for the kids), you transition to a series of switchbacks that lead to the Sheridan/Sherman saddle. This is where the 4 mile creek and Iowa Gulch trails merge, and at this point we saw what looked like a highway of single-file hikers heading towards the summit. Trucked up to the summit and had a short snowball fight with the remaining snow. There were probably 40 people taking pictures, sharing a beer and eating lunch at the summit. Everyone was very friendly and it was a great environment for the kids. Hung out for about 30 minutes and then headed back down. Two US Army CH-47 Chinook Helicopters (probably heading to HAATS - High Altitude Aviation Training Site - in Eagle) swept right over the Saddle from the east which made for some great video. Made it down without incident for a total round trip of around 4.5 hours and then feasted on ice cream sundaes in Leadville. Only issue worth noting were the high number of unleashed dogs on a narrow trail, but I guess that's par for the course on a Saturday in July. One lady got a little testy with me when, after her pooch stuck its muzzle in my 6yo daughter's face, I grabbed it by the collar and threw it away from her. I'm sure the dog was nice but would rather err on the side of caution. Other than that, absolutely great Colorado day.

Sherman - Iowa Gulch

Took the family including 9yo and 6yo kids up Sherman from the Leadville/Iowa Gulch side. Great day overall. Highly recommend this route to anyone wanting to bag a 14er with young kids.

Arrived at the trailhead via the well-maintained 2wd road around 7:15am. The 15 or so cars already present made it hard to miss. Ran into a nice college-age couple who advised us how easy it is to miss the turn-off. About 50 yards down the road from the "parking lot" there is a cairn at which you must turn left (towards the streams).

Gorgeous wild-flowers blooming all over the "valley" between the trailhead and the first talus field. Carefully look for the cairns in the talus field, we lost the trail once and the kids made fun of Dad's navigation skills for the remainder of the hike.

After ascending out of the talus field (hardest part of the trail for the kids), you transition to a series of switchbacks that lead to the Sheridan/Sherman saddle. This is where the 4 mile creek and Iowa Gulch trails merge, and at this point we saw what looked like a highway of single-file hikers heading towards the summit.

Trucked up to the summit and had a short snowball fight with the remaining snow. There were probably 40 people taking pictures, sharing a beer and eating lunch at the summit. Everyone was very friendly and it was a great environment for the kids. Hung out for about 30 minutes and then headed back down. Two US Army CH-47 Chinook Helicopters (probably heading to HAATS - High Altitude Aviation Training Site - in Eagle) swept right over the Saddle from the east which made for some great video.

Made it down without incident for a total round trip of around 4.5 hours and then feasted on ice cream sundaes in Leadville.

Only issue worth noting were the high number of unleashed dogs on a narrow trail, but I guess that's par for the course on a Saturday in July. One lady got a little testy with me when, after her pooch stuck its muzzle in my 6yo daughter's face, I grabbed it by the collar and threw it away from her. I'm sure the dog was nice but would rather err on the side of caution. Other than that, absolutely great Colorado day.

Comments or Questions

nsaladin	Please 7/21/2014 6:03pm Post the video of the CH-47's if you have it!
huffy13	Chinooks... 7/21/2014 7:05pm I took a group of our cross country runners up on Horseshoe Mountain that same day and saw the Chinooks flying around. I remember noticing how close to the Sherman/Sheridan Ridge they looked to be. I'll try to post a picture I got of them hovering over Sheep Mountain.

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