Mt. Sherman Trailhead

The weather was perfect on the day we went! Sunny with light winds, no storms. The loose rocks were challenging, but the effort felt well worth it when we made it to the summit. This is a great 14er! We had a wonderful experience!

Beautiful hike to perhaps the easiest 14er in Colorado. Most 14ers are much harder than this one. That being said, this hike is fun and relaxing along an old mining trail with many old and fallen structures. The trail can be hard to follow so be careful where you are. The ridge to the summit is quite thin and almost knife like. Summit is flat and has great views! Dog friendly.

Mt. Sherman was a fun challenge and would make a great first 14er for anyone looking to get into higher elevation hikes. It’s definitely a workout, but manageable with steady effort. The views from the top were absolutely immaculate—totally worth it. The road to the trailhead is rough in spots, but a high-clearance 2WD vehicle can make it just fine in dry conditions if you take it slow. Overall, a beautiful and rewarding hike! Start EARLY (talking 4 am) to witness the most amazing sunrise.

11 miles of dirt rock road gave me a flat tire. Shout out to Travis with Big Red Towing, give him a call if you are in the same predicament.

So to recap the 06/30/2025 Mount Sherman 14k foot hike from the Fairplay side of the mountain, it took me just over 7 hours, 12 minutes. I was off route 3 times adding extra miles tho I did take one shortcut by glissading down a section of the descent skipping a difficult section. AllTrails didn’t track the entire time & my watch recorded this as an “other” activity rather than a hike. I hiked approx 6.5 miles with 2,000+ feet in elevation gain. It was prob the hardest workout of my life, mentally and physically. Surprisingly I’m not sore at all next day. My legs were not sore during the hike. I didn’t have symptoms of altitude sickness, but I felt very heavy and lacked energy. Afterwards I had a bad headache and a flat tire. I drank water, ate high protein snacks and mentos to keep my energy up. The main challenge was breathing. I took deep slow breaths and was still out o f breath. Elevation made it much more difficult to breathe, I was winded the entire hike. I was grateful for my Apple Watch because I could monitor my heart rate. For around a third of the incline, I forced myself to take 50 steps which sent my heart rate to 150bpm. Then I would stand and rest for 2 minutes until my heart rate came down to 100bpm and then 50 more steps, and heart rate would shoot back up to 150bpm. Rinse and repeat for 2+ hours. Around 20 people passed me on the way including a family wearing sandals with son around 7 & daughter around 10, a group of 3 young women, one wearing sandals, a group of 4+ senior citizens discussing how the oldest recently refused his podiatrist recommendation for an ankle replacement, 2 individual women in their 30’s, 3 indiv idual men, another group of 3 young women and a dog, and a man & 8ish year old son & dog hiking & glissading. It was humbling. I didn’t want to quit but it was mentally challenging to keep going. I kept going and pushed away thoughts of turning around. I thought about what the hot yoga instructor in Frisco had talked about the day before during my 30th day of consecutive practice. There are moments of bliss and contentment to be found. I fought to stop the random swirling thoughts and searched for moments of bliss and contentment, staring at mountains, watching the birds & would be present for 30 seconds or so. Breath in, breathe out. I practiced the breathing techniques from hot yoga. I kept breathing and kept putting one foot in front of another. I thought about ultra athletes who would run that hike like mountain goats. I thought about telling my kids & friends that I gave up and this fueled my fire to keep going. I was worried and also hopeful the weather would force my hand on turning back but the rain & hail held off until a minute after I got back to Rachel Green, my faithful Subaru Outback. The views of the mountains, small lakes, snow, rocks, wildflowers, birds, bugs and chipmunks were magnificent. I thought a lot about the native peoples who had lived out there and I offered my gratitude to the land for allowing me to pass thru.

Absolutely great 14er hike. If you have 4x wheel drive you can easily make it to the Four-Mile Trailhead of Hwy 18. From there its a 2.3 mile trek to the top. Microspikes are a good idea if hiking before mid June due to snow. Only a short 2ish hour drive from Denver. Be sure to check your weather forecast for the summit several times before you go.