My Seventh Sherman Summit at Age Seventy

I welcome suggestions for a title that doesn't imply that I have hiked Sherman 7 times at age 70.

Saturday, August 29, 2026 - I hiked Colorado 14er Mt. Sherman from Fourmile Creek Trailhead with three friends. I was the oldest. We parked about a quarter mile below the gate. It was almost twilight.

At the pickup, I noticed I needed to adjust my trekking poles. I left my pack in the pickup bed while Katherine shined her cell light and I fixed that detail. A mile into the hike I realized that I forgot to put my pack on. I was so focused on my poles that I forgot my pack. Getting old? It held a poncho, a water bladder, my ten essentials and other things that I might need. Laura gave me a 12 ounce bottle of Gatorade, and that got me up and back just fine. I had been hydrating all the day before and the few hours before the hike. I had bottles of water in my pickup for my return. I told Laura that I owed her a Gatorade. She laughed and pointed out that it was pay back for another hike we had when I had supplies that she lacked. I would not have continued if I did not have great friends.

I found the memorial plaque that I had heard about and got a picture of it. I could not remember where it was, and posed the question on the Facebook group. When I spotted it on the side of the old mining road-turned hiking trail above the now-empty pond I did remember that I had seen it on a past hike. I snapped a picture to share in this report.

Our hike began at 6:20 a.m. Temps started in the high 30s and reached the 50s. But the pleasant part of the hike was below the saddle. We reached the saddle at 7:20 a.m. From there it was typical Mt. Sherman winds on our ascent, even freezing at the ridge where there are only a couple of spots for a warmer reprieve. Once on top we stumbled a tenth or more of a mile over loose shale chunks to the summit marker, which we reached at 8:35 a.m. The wind up there was considerably calmer, and we were relieved that it was somewhat warmer.

We got our summit pictures and found a cairn shelter to rest on rocks and snack before beginning our descent. It did feel like we were sitting on ice cubes. After 20 minutes we began our hike back down at 8:55 a.m. By 9:35 we were at the saddle and a couple of us took a few pictures of the Iowa Gulch area. We wasted no time continuing down the trail. We saw a LOT of babies, toddlers, kids and teens on our way up and down. One daddy said I could get a picture of him with his toddler and dog.

Mt. Sherman was Ryan's first 14er! It was Katherine's 6th 14er. It was Laura's 2nd time on this mountain, and it was my 7th time to summit Mt. Sherman. We finished at 10:35 a.m., including 20 minutes on top with dozens of hikers. The total time including our summit break was 4 hours, ten minutes. Our moving time was 3 hours 50 minutes. The hike was 5.65 miles roundtrip.

I tied my fastest moving time on this climb, and I'm now nine years older than I was on that record time in 2017. What a difference it makes to hike without a pack! Haha!