Mount Sherman from Leavick

I ended up camping at the Fourmile campground about 2 miles from the old mining town of Leavick. I arrived early enough in the evening (5pm) that I could actually take pictures of my campsite and enjoy a bit of rest. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The previous afternoon, I had scouted out Sherman. The road to Sherman starts out in the town of Fairplay and is a 10 mile dirt road. As you pass the old run down mining town of Leavick, the road gets really rough, and extremely hard on 2wd rental cars. So, for two reasons, I parked near Leavick for my start: I didn't want to torture the rental anymore than I already had. I wanted to get as much elevation and miles as I could on this last day of my adventure. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first 2 miles is nothing more than a road, albeit a very rough road. At about the 2 mile point, you start to see remnants of old mining buildings and equipment. If you are interested in old mining towns and hikes, this is the best for that. I was surprised to even see several holes in the ground - old mines - that were not covered up. I figured for safety, they would be covered, but I guess not. At the Drewick mine area, there is a locked gate which blocks vehicle traffic. However, the road does continue up until about 13,000 feet, to the old mining settlement. It is hard to believe that people lived and worked at 13,000 feet (and higher). Past the mining settlement, there are two choices for getting to the Sherman-Sheridan saddle. You can go straight up the rock slope in front of you, or you can go towards the left and switch back up the rocks to the saddle. I chose the later. This trail was more traveled and seemed to be a better choice environmentally. Once you get to the saddle, it is a long hike, over several false peaks to the summit of Sherman. Sherman is the peak to the right. Just start heading that direction, and eventually you will see the wind-break which designates the summit. I made the summit in about 2 hours. I was the first on the summit today, which surprised me. It was really windy again today, and maybe that kept people off of this extremely popular mountain. The summit is a close tie with Bross for being the biggest. The actual peak is higher than the rest of the summit, but the top of Sherman just seems to go on forever. I didn't venture to far, because I was freezing my butt off. It was 40 degrees, but with the wind chill, felt much colder. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Going down Sherman was much nicer, because you didn't have the false peaks to break your spirit. I decided as I was coming down Sherman, that I should go for my first 13er, so I headed towards Sheridan. The climb up Sheridan was rather easy. It was pretty much a mild rock climb. Not very steep, but tedious. I thought that Sheridan would be a really nice peak, but it turned out to be pretty boring after all. Sherman was much nicer, and a 14er to boot. I headed down Sheridan, towards the Sherman/Sheridan saddle, and continued down the same way that I came up. I passed the old mining settlement, and continued on my way back to Leavick. I hiked down the 4x4 road to my car, and headed for my last peak of the trip; Quandry.

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