Sherman Peak Loop — Friday, Jul. 8, 2016

Eastern Washington > Okanogan Highlands/Kettle River Range

The trail numbers listed for Sherman are a little confusing and this hike also gets reports under Kettle Crest South (#13). I would call this hike Sherman Peak Loop. Hoping for sunshine we headed way east to Sherman Pass only to find off-and-on misty rain and cool temperatures. It seemed even more odd to these Seattle residents because the clouds were coming from the east over the pass, not from the west. From the Sherman Pass trailhead the way heads downhill and then back up to the road. Crossing the road, the trail restarts about 100 ft to the west (towards the pass). You could just walk the road and not miss much. The trail sign we saw said we were on #12 at this point but I don’t seem to find that number on any maps. Traffic on the road can be heard for much of this hike. The trail is in good condition and all blowdowns have been cut and moved. There were only mild wet spots and a few short brushy spots. Mosquitos were pretty bad at times. This trail section is steady uphill but is short and not very steep. Here we encountered a couple on their way down, the only others we saw all day on a July Friday. There was apparently a horse group ahead of us however. At the junction in less than a mile there is a sign to the right for trail #72, Sherman Peak Loop. You can go either way and we chose to the right for a counter-clockwise loop. The loop is relatively flat, easy hiking. At about the halfway point the wildflowers were out in quantity. You travel in and out of the 1988 fire zones where the lodgepole pine are thick and about 5-15 ft tall. There are also meadows and some pretty good views that would have been even better with a few less clouds. The next junction is the Kettle Crest trail. Turn left to complete the loop and head back towards Sherman Pass. There is a nice and newer sign describing the 1988 fire. On this section there were some deer droppings, and we saw a few chipmunks and many birds but that was the extent of the wildlife. So not the hike we expected but we were thankful for moderate temperatures in an area that should be hot and dry in July.