Hike Sherwin Grade Old Wagon Road, Bishop, California

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Sherwin Grade is named after James Sherwin, who was born in Ohio and died in Bishop, California in 1918. Jim and his wife Nancy began their life together in Round Valley when they moved from Benton in the early 1860s. Being described as an industrious man, Jim Sherwin saw the need for Jeffrey Pine for building homes and other buildings in the Owens Valley, and built a road from Round Valley to to a mill on Lower Rock Creek. Huge wagons weighing tons ground their way up and down the volcanic Tuff rock leaving a permanent mark in history with their deep ruts. Later, after the establishment of the Mammoth Mining District, Sherwin extended his road and charged a toll for traveling the 40 miles from Bishop to Mammoth City on what was called the High Road. Travel was arduous, in a mule-drawn wagon, and took a whole day. Hike the old wagon Dry Road from the bottom of Sherwin Grade (just north of the old Roberts Creamery) to Sherwin Summit and Tom’s Place. The roads are about 10 miles long and average 3,000 vertical feet. No one has traveled on it since the 1970s, when the four-lane highway was built and freeway fences closed off all access.

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