Horseshoe Mtn (13,898) and Mt Sherman (14,036) from Gold Basin trailhead by Brian Schultz Saturday July 14, 2002
The Gold Basin trailhead is a good starting point to get official 3000 feet status on Sherman and it picks up Horseshoe Mountain along the way too, a centennial thirteener. But the round trip is nearly 12 miles from the trailhead, located on the west side of Weston Pass, and requires crossing private property as described in Gerry and Jennifer Roach's thirteener book. When I set up this hike, Pike Forest was closed because of the fires but San Isabel wasn't. The boundary between the two runs right along the ridge on Horseshoe and when I called the Pike National Forest Service to see if I could do the ridge to Sherman, an employee thought Sherman was in the confines of Pike. However, he gave me permission to hike the ridge as long as I didn't drop down into the east side. I got his name in case I was stopped- I didn't want to risk getting cited and having to pay a fine.
I left Fairplay and drove an hour on the Weston Pass road to the trailhead, 3.1 miles by my odometer to the parking area below Weston Pass. For the third day in a row the morning was cloud-free and I started at 6:15, crossing the main road to the four wheel drive road which leads to the fenced-in private property. There were tire tracks on the road but no vehicles- my hike today would be alone.
The gate was locked when I arrived but I ducked through the cables of the fence to get in. I was wary because I heard that private landowners were on the lookout for intruders, one of whom was allegedly starting fires. I left a note on my windshield stating my intentions to hike Horseshoe in case anyone was checking.
Beyond the gate, the route followed some worn out tracks that went through a small woods to the north and then turned east to the slopes of Horseshoe. The summit looked close but looks were deceiving. The trail finally faded out, leaving a straight but long ascent to the top over grass and rocks. It was steep and the elevation gain came fast. I topped out on the long summit at 8:25 and after a break of 12 minutes was on my way to Sherman, three miles away with lots of up and down ridge running. But it was easy and the beautiful morning remained cloud free.
I reached the Sherman saddle at 9:45 and encountered many hikers coming up Iowa Gulch from the west side. Lots more were already on the ridge and I steadily passed them on my way up. The small area of scrambling near the top was still fun, even on my third time here, and I strolled over to the summit at 10:30 for a short but much deserved lunch break. Horseshoe looked far away and I'd have to return over it. I also had to drive to Ridgway to meet Tim this evening for our train ride tomorrow. Fifteen minutes later I headed back to Horseshoe, got there at 12:35, and took a long break. The clouds started building up but not in a threatening way. I got back to my car at 2:05, very weary from three days of long mileage trekking and significant elevation gain, but pleased with the very neat route to Sherman.
Total hiking time- 7 hours 50 minutes including all breaks