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Horseshoe Mt., Peerless Mt., Mt. Sherdian & Mt. Sherman
Fourmile Creek TH 2WD parking
13 miles / ~4,400ft.
Having just returned from a weekend in Snowmass, the green grass and aspens convinced me to put aside thoughts of another snow climb and instead opt for a nice day hike into an area I had not been to before.
I was at the trailhead by 6am, and started up the 4wd road towards Horseshoe. I think the road is actually quite drivable for a tough passenger car nearly all the way up to the gate closure and the regular 4wd parking. There is a little pullout right before that last tough section that could be used as parking.
Anyway, back to the hike, I followed the easy route up Horseshoe, and topped out at 7:30. After a short break I headed back down and then scaled the sub-200 ft. needed to summit Peerless. I kept on trucking and descended Peerless reaching the saddle with Sheridan. Sheridan offers up about 700 ft. of nice steep talus and it was my first good test of the day. After huffing and puffing a bit I reached the summit at 8:45, then started down to the saddle with Sherman.
The wind picked up as I climbed Sherman's standard route, and my energy reserves started to nosedive, but I plugged along and made the summit at 10am, took a few pictures, then started down. The wind was really kicking now and I felt a little sorry for the various groups I passed still on their way up, who had been moving pretty slowly before they hit the summit ridge. They looked pretty cold but were plugging along, last I looked on my descent they were nearing the summit.
A quick fun glissade down the snowfield below the Sherman-Sheridan saddle and then back on the old mining road that leads to the TH's. After a long walk I reached the car at 11:30, still under nice blue skies! What a morning to be out in the mountains.
It was a fun day out in Park County with superb weather, and I capped it off by heading into Breck over Hoosier's pass and grabbing a beer.
Aaron. |
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