Looking for a fun route to kick off your summer hiking season? This one's for you!
I love the peaks off Fourmile Creek Road — they usually melt out enough by June to offer early-season summits and some solid high-altitude training for the lungs. I’ve done these peaks in a few different variations over the years, but this was my first time linking them all together in one go (thanks to some beautiful Saturday weather). I'm always looking for new ways to experience familiar peaks and creative link-ups, so this route had been on my list for a while.
Summary
Peaks: Horseshoe > Peerless > Sheridan > Sherman > White Ridge
Distance: ~12 miles
Elevation Gain: ~4,600 feet
Elapsed Time: 6 hours, 20 minutes
Steal my GPX Tracks Here
The GPX track will be the most helpful reference, but for context: I parked at the Sherman lower lot in the morning, then headed downhill briefly to take the turnoff back up toward Horseshoe. Compared to the crowds heading up Sherman, this approach was a peaceful way to start the day — I didn’t see another soul until the summit of Horseshoe. On the way up Horseshoe, we crossed a few lingering snowfields, but they made for pretty easy walking. I didn’t even need to pull out the spikes.
After some second breakfast on Horseshoe and soaking in the views, we continued along the ridgeline to Peerless, which was an easy and straightforward walk.
Next up was Sheridan, definitely the biggest climb of the day. There are plenty of cairns to guide you, but the pitch is steeper than anything else up to that point. As we were hiking over from Peerless, I thought I spotted a few white shapes moving on the rocks — and sure enough, once we crested near the summit, we found a mama mountain goat and her two babies hanging out at the top. After snapping a few photos, we gave them a wide berth and continued on toward Sherman.
As expected, Sherman was the busiest part of the day. It was great to see so many folks out enjoying the perfect summit weather! We made a quick pit stop before heading over to White Ridge.
Funny enough, I had originally scouted White Ridge for a ski descent, but an ankle injury during prime spring skiing season killed that idea. So I jumped at the chance to walk over and check it out. The ridge between Sherman and White Ridge is stunning — the views looking back on your route for the day are epic, and the rock up there really stands out as unique.
Annie (the dog) and I celebrated our fifth summit of the day with some well-earned snacks, then dropped down from the Sherman/White Ridge saddle. We passed one other hiker along this ridge — we each took different descent lines. I saw a few cairns along the way, but the descent was classic Mosquito Range: rocky and loose in sections. Eventually, I reconnected with the standard Sherman route and cruised back to the car.
Epic day!
