Hiking Mount Sherman: 9.14.14

I'm so happy to have another 14er ascent under my belt!

I was at a meeting at church a few weeks ago catching up with my friend, Tracy, and we started talking about 14ers. Earlier in the year, we'd thrown the idea of hiking one this summer with a group of friends that we get together regularly with but summer found us all going a million different directions and we never made it happen. We both pulled out our calendars that night and picked a date that we could go.

The great thing about Mount Sherman is that it is really close to Tracy's cabin in Fairplay and she offered to let us come up and spend the night. That meant that we could sleep in a bit the next morning instead of gettting up at 4am. Win-win!

The photo below is of the road to the trailhead, looking down from the beginning of the hike.

Mount Sherman is considered one of the "easier" 14ers, but there is no such thing as an easy 14er. Sherman is a good one for beginners because the hike begins above treeline and is relatively short in distance from trailhead to summit. 

It was a gorgeous day to hike--it was sunny and breezy which made jackets and hats necessary.

Our group included Tracy and her daughter, Morgan, plus my friend, Toni, and her daughter, Maddi. We also had a canine companion--Shiver. I asked my girls if they wanted to go with us and the answer was a resolute "no". Maybe one of these days....

In the picture below, the summit is actually the peak behind us on the right.

It was breezy until we got to the ridge to the summit and then the wind became terrifying. It was SO intense and was moving me around. It was exactly the same as it was on Mount Evans a few weeks ago, but this time I wasn't as scared because I knew we just needed to keep going and it would die down at a certain point. We passed some hikers coming down who didn't summit because of the wind, but we met an equal number who did and told us that the wind at the summit was much more calm.

And it was...

WE MADE IT!

It was still cold up there though. We found a little wind break and had a snack.

If you've ever wondered what the top of a 14er looks like, it looks like this. LOTS of rocks. This was a really flat summit though. Flattest I've ever seen!

And the views are incredible--you can see for miles and miles. There was a guy at the top pointing out all the surrounding 14ers and mountain ranges to us. Two of my good friends and their husbands were summiting Quandary Peak that same day and it was fun to think we were all on top of a peak at the same time.

The climb down was not very fun because of that wind, but we made it! I usually get to the top and feel so exhilarated then panic because I have to go back down. Down is the part that hurts--it's especially tough on my right knee for some reason.

I'm hanging up my 14er shoes for the season but I have big plans for next summer so stay tuned.

Things I want to remember about this hike:
Mount Sherman was my 6th 14er.
It took us less than two hours to summit and about an hour and a half to hike back down.
The road to this trailhead is very rutted--I was thankful that Tracy drove.
The trail is very clear and well marked--very little scrambling. I liked that a lot.
Having a friend with a cabin near the trailhead is awesome. Thank you, Tracy!