Several firsts on this hike: first 14er for my Mom, my Dad, and my dog Pepper, and first climb of Mount Sherman for Jake. This was my first ascent of Gemini Peak as well.

Mom and Dad were coming to visit from Illinois and wanted to climb a mountain. They'd never climbed a mountain before but we usually would end up hiking to waterfalls, or just looking around mining areas when they'd come to visit. I was thinking something above treeline with a nice view would work well, and started to do some research. I wanted a short hike, without too much vertical, and not too difficult. I thought a 13er would work well, and I thought about Mount Edwards (13,850') for a while. Mom had hiked around the Fourmile area near Mount Sherman last year and thought Sherman might work. She forgot it was a 14er... but we figured it's only 200' higher than Edwards and we might be able to drive way up the trail before hiking.

Pepper is our 9-month old German Shorthair, who we've had since May. I didn't want to take him on a 14er climb until he had been tested on a longer hike, especially since he seemed to tire easily when we've taken him out. Donna, Jake, Pepper and I drove out to Guanella Pass the day after we hiked Princeton and started up the trail toward Mount Bierstadt. I figured I'd take Pepper across the willow basin and maybe up Bierstadt's West Slopes for a while before turning around. While Donna read her book on the banks of Scott Gomer Creek, the dogs and I continued on the trail. The Mount Bierstadt trail is MUCH better than it was a few years ago. Boardwalks cross many of the swampy areas and the trail is well-defined. Anyway, we went about halfway up Bierstadt before turning back, and Pepper did fine the whole way. I thought he would be ready for a short 14er hike.

We left our house at about 06:30, Donna and Pepper in Mom's car and Dad and Jake in my Jeep. While loading the vehicles 20 minutes earlier a huge herd of elk crossed over my driveway and started feeding in the thistle field below the house. There must have been at least 70 elk: cows, bulls, and calves. They were aware of Dad and me standing there in the garage watching them, but they didn't seem to care. I didn't bother to get my camera but if I get a picture of them again I'll show it here.

After leaving Mom's car at the Fourmile Creek Trailhead and piling ourselves and our gear into the Jeep, we headed up the road which soon became a little rougher. Higher clearance 2WD would work as far as the Dauntless Mine, then I shifted into 4L and tossed my passengers about on the drive past the mine. The road was rough, rocky, and loose, but not too steep, with few obstacles of concern. We drove as far as the switchback just below the Hilltop Mine; my altimeter read about 12,600'-12,700'.

We started hiking toward the saddle between Sherman and Sheridan at 08:40. We all stayed together until we reached the saddle, then I took the dogs ahead to the summit of Sherman and across to Gemini. We reached the summit at 09:50 and continued down the north ridge of Sherman. We reached the higher summit of Gemini at 10:10. It's rather steep climbing up to the summit on small talus, and some of it was icy. We climbed down from the summit and over to the lower sub-peak, making that point at 10:20. We headed back up to Sherman's summit, reaching it at 10:35.

Foto ©2001 by John C. Maki

Dad was there on the summit, I think it took him 1:45 hrs to reach the summit from our start. Not bad for a flatlander! Mom and Donna were still on their way up. Jake and Pepper begged food off the other summiters, and after some time I decided to take the dogs away from the summit and find out where Mom and Donna were. By the time we reached the point where the nearly flat summit area meets the steeper ridge down to the saddle, they were just about there. The 3 of us and the dogs headed back to the summit, after I put a leash on Pepper to keep him from annoying other climbers. We had lunch and headed down.

Foto ©2001 by John C. Maki

We all made it down to the Jeep without incident, then the dogs decided to go exploring while we changed out of our boots and loaded the gear into the Jeep. Jake came back after a couple calls but Pepper was nowhere to be found. I was just about to go looking for him when he appeared coming down the trail. Apparently he latched onto a descending group who had a dog. Pepper's attention span is, well, that of a puppy. A fun climb, nice and short, with a little extra credit for me and the dogs. I asked Mom if she wants to make this an annual event and she said no, just the one time was enough. :-)