Another picturesque day and another 14er conquered. Today we chose to summit Mount Sherman, the only 14er in the Mosquito Range that is open for climbing at this time due to private land ownership. Mount Sherman also has private land near it (and I am not sure if part of it is privately owned as well) as you have to drive through private property to access the trailhead. We chose to knock this one out now, in case it gets shut down to climbers as well.

In case you are not aware, there are five 14ers in Colorado that involve private land ownership and are closed to climbers. This brings the number of accessible 14nrs down to 53 from the original 58. This has been an issue for several years and there has been governmental activity focused on laws to protect the landowners from lawsuits if a climber is hurt on their land. Unfortunately, an agreement has not been made and so those five remain closed to the public. There is one 14er that is on private land (I am aware of) and is open but only for certain months of the year (due to hunting season) and requires a permit. That one is Culebra Peak and the advanced booking can be made through Cielo Ranch Vista ($150 fee per person). We hope to get reservations in 2024 so we can cross that one off our list!

Today we decided to start a little later than normal (instead of 4:00AM, how about 6:00AM)? The drive was just over 2 hours and the last 8-10 miles was up a dirt road that got pretty rough the last couple of miles or so. We couldn’t tell if there was parking at the top by the trailhead and so we parked in a little parking lot about a half mile down the road and started our ascent at 6:15AM. The sun was already up which was nice because the 40 degrees wasn’t as cold! 

This trail leads you through some mine ruins, past a cave, and some old mine railway tracks. The first mine is called Dauntless Mine and the second is Hilltop Mine. The trail ascends up an old rocky, dirt road and doesn’t flatten out for a bit. You finally reach a leveled off area but it doesn’t last long enough and then you are again ascending. 

This is a pretty exposed area with no trees and shrubs – just dirt and rocks. We continued up the path where it eventually turns into loose rock and finally full out scree. It continues to steepen over time with one small area (the saddle between Mount Sherman and Mount Sheridan) that gives some hiking relief but then quickly becomes much more vertical. The interesting thing is from the saddle until the peak, I heard relatively little talking from other hikers and only the wind and the clinking of trekking poles. I think we were all concentrating on getting up that hill and keeping good footing.

You weave up the “spine” of the mountain and eventually hit the ridge. The width of the ridge is pretty good, but it started getting a little windier and there are only so many places to easily place your feet and so it did take some concentration to hike the ridge until the peak. 

We made it! This was our fastest ascent yet, shaving about 11 mins off our pace per mile. This was also our first 14er that was not part of the Front Range. We took some pictures and decided to go ahead and start making our way back to the truck.  I pulled out my new trekking poles, raised them to the highest setting and we started our descent. Joe was moving at mountain squirrel 🐿️ speed and so he had to stop and wait for me a few times. I told him that if we had my ascent speed and his descent speed, we would rock these 14ers!

We saw no wildlife this hike and very little wildflowers. Maybe it was the time of day or time of year? The snow was also almost gone and we crossed a only a small amount of snow on the way back down (we took a slightly different turn at one point). This hiking experience was definitely much different than the other three we had completed.

The descent was uneventful and we made it back to the truck with a roundtrip time of 3 hours and 30 minutes. Not bad for a Sunday morning! On the way home we decided to stop off in Golden, CO and eat at The Original Woody’s Wood Fired Pizza because they have the best pizza and salad buffet (all day!). It is $16.99pp and worth it. If you are ever in the Denver area, head over to Golden and check it out and let me know what you think. You won’t be disappointed! 

Overall, great day, not my favorite 14er (I know some people really like this one though!) and so Mount Bierstadt still holds my record for best 14er so far. (Joe gives the gold star to Mount Evans). Now we need to decide which one we tackle next…any suggestions? (let’s stick with Class 1 and 2 for now!).

5.25 miles
2100’ elevation gain
3.5 hours roundtrip
Southwest Ridge Route
Class 2