Bard Peak loop « The Journey Is Home

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Bard Peak loop

October 20, 2008 by thejourneyishome

I was surprised when I woke up early after yesterday’s craziness. However, I decided to take advantage of an early morning and head out for a long hike. I drove up to the Herman Gulch trailhead and then turned right on to the Watrous Gulch trail instead of the more traveled Herman Gulch. As I began to near the treeline I had my first views of one of today’s objectives, Mount Parnassus.

More stunning was the view south to the snow-frosted north slopes of Mount Sniktau and some alpine glow.

A fair number of clouds had lingered through the night and occasionally dropped a few snow flakes as I hiked to the end of the trail.

Across open slopes I hiked up to the saddle between Woods Mountain and Mount Parnassus. Grays, Torreys and Grizzly peaks now popped into the viewshed formerly dominated by Sniktau.

Once at the saddle it was an easy hike to to top of Woods Mountain.

In the distance I could clearly make out the Citadel and Pettingell Peak, mountains I’d climbed back in the summer.

I retraced my steps back to the saddle then headed up Mount Parnassus. Some fresh snow covered the slope in patches, but was easily avoided. However, the wind was picking up, gusting to about 30 mph.

During a break on Parnassus, I studied the ridge leading to its higher neighbor, Bard Peak.

The ridge turned out to be quite easy, with a faint trail running on the sunny and wind-protected south side. However, as I started up the final slopes to Bard Peak I had to emerge from the protected ridge and again encountered the strong wind gusts. Once on top, I found a semi-sheltered spot on the lee side of the peak for another break.

The clouds didn’t look threatening and I figured I had plenty of time to make the long out and back hike to reach a 4th peak, Engelmann. I encountered the strongest winds on this hike but thankfully the summit itself was calm.

I returned the way I came, back as far as Bard Peak and a little ways down the ridge towards Parnassus. However, I wanted to make this a bit of a loop, so I dropped down into the gully running south between Bard and Parnassus. The sun was currently out in strength and I was protected by the mountain masses above. Shedding layers and drinking water I picked a route down loose, but moderately angled, slopes to about 12,000 feet. Here I picked up the neglected Bard Creek Trail at a surprisingly large flat spot right at treeline.

The trail wasn’t as defined as most, but was still marked by the occasional cairn and wasn’t hard to follow. It lead across the steep south-facing slopes below Bard and Parnassus, slopes that seemed to drop straight down to I-70 below.

I noticed that I was following someone’s foot steps on the trail. They’d passed by since the last snow fall, but were probably a day or more old. Still, after not seeing anyone for over 6 hours it was strangely comforting.