I was told this was one of the easiest 14ers. Of course none of them are truly easy but relatively speaking this is one that probably many semi-experienced hikers can do.

I arrived at the trailhead around 8.30 am and found a parking spot not far from the closed gate which prevented cars from driving any further. I knew the round trip was roughly 5 miles and that meant that even going as slow as 1 MPH, I would easily be off the summit by Noon in the event that there was a storm. The weather was great. I saw clouds in the distance and there were no storms on the forecast for now.

Starting off it was just an old mining road. After about 1/3 mile of hiking up the road I saw an old mining area on the left side. There was a wooden structure partially destroyed, some metal tracks in different places, and what looked like an old rail car with a steering wheel attached. Why there was a steering wheel on it, I can't imagine. Maybe the steering wheel only controlled some kind of breaking mechanism. I saw a few mining holes and some tailings. The holes were all blocked by metal grates.

Initially, I could see Mt Sherman straight up and Mt Sheridan (13k+) to the left. If there was time, I thought about hiking Mt Sheridan also but I decided to pass since I planned on doing the DeCalibron loop and a total of FOUR 14ers the next day and that was going to be a tough day.

When I got up higher the road basically narrowed and turned into a trail but the trail was in great shape and easy to follow. I got up to the high ridgeline and saw some patches of snow. First time I ever saw this in August!

It was pretty rocky on the upper part but it was a pretty nice trail the entire way with not too many loose rocks. Before getting to the summit, I saw a family with 2 young kids starting to head down. I was surprised that the kids actually made it and seemed to be doing well. At the summit, I found a metal pole in a rock pile along with an old wooden slab that said Mt Sherman, 14,043 feet. There were a few other people near the summit when I got there and they offered to take my photo at the top.

There was a small rock enclosure near the top to get shelter in case there was any wind but it was quite calm the day I was up there. I wore a T-shirt for much of the lower part of the hike and put on a wind breaker when I got up higher because of the cool air. I got some photos and videos from the top and then started my descent down.

On the way down I decided to take a different trail branch that went further to the West and slightly toward Mt Sheridan. There was some more old mining equipment there and the trail was in worse condition. In a couple of areas I felt like I was scrambling across the rock and the trail was wiped out by various rock slides but I continued forward and the trail re-appeared again. I got down to another mining road which was the site of another mining area. I followed the road down and it met up with the original road I was on earlier and that took me back to the trailhead.

All in all it was a very pleasant and enjoyable hike and the weather conditions were outstanding! I would have been OK with a light sprinkle but it didn't happen.

Stats:
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round trip distance 5.2 miles
1979 feet AEG
strava moving time 3 hrs 20 mins
strava elapsed time 5 hrs 3 mins


I camped the night before at a free camping area not so far away off of FSR 18.2B. It was close to Horseshoe campground.

GPS location: 39.203769, -106.082561