Bard Peak (13,641) & Mt Parnassus (13,574) by Brian Schultz Saturday July 19, 2008
Distance: ~9 miles
Elevation gain: 3,900 feet
After reading Tim's report on climbing Bard from the Herman Gulch trailhead (10,300 ft), I decided to climb it from there as well. It's a longer route, nine miles instead of five, but avoids the steep bushwhack from Bakerville as described by Garratt & Martin. The trailhead, located at the next exit west of Bakerville on I-70, has a large parking area and it was full of cars when I pulled in. Destinations abound from the popular trailhead, including Herman Lake, Watrous Gulch, and numerous peaks but I was the only one using it to access the Bard trail.
I began at 7:30 AM under sunny and clear skies and quickly reached the signed junction of the Herman Gulch and Watrous Gulch trails. I turned right on the Watrous Gulch trail and reached the junction of the Watrous Gulch and Bard Creek trails at 8:10, which was also signed. I turned right again and followed the excellent trail (photo 1, photo 2) for nearly an hour, then turned up the slopes in an open area as the trail continued ahead into the trees. Later I realized I'd turned up too early but kept going because I didn't want to give up the elevation I gained. It wasn't a problem at all, it just meant I'd be climbing Mt Parnassus first today instead of Bard.
The route I took to Parnassus was lots of fun and included a bit of class 3 rock scrambling to get around some steep snow patches. I arrived on top at 10:40 and took a fifteen minute break before dropping down the east ridge to Bard.
On the ascent to Bard from the saddle, I side-hilled instead of staying on the ridge to the summit. When I reached what appeared to be the summit and looked behind me, I noticed the hill I bypassed was higher. So, after staking my claim to the eastern summit, I turned around and hiked up to the true summit. It only took a few minutes and I arrived there at 11:55.
Interestingly, there are two benchmarks on Bard's summit and I wondered what the story was behind that. I sat for over a half hour on the grassy top enjoying the warm sunny weather and the views, and on the descent I took the south slopes down before crossing the drainage below the Bard/Parnassus saddle. It would've been easier to go directly to the saddle from the summit and then cross the drainage to regain the trail below but my way worked too.
I took a break on the Bard trail later to watch the I-70 traffic below, kind of cool to be high enough that I couldn't hear any vehicles. When I rejoined the Watrous Gulch trail, I passed by a large group of backpacking teens and two adults on their way up to Watrous Gulch. They were the only people I saw before returning to my car at 3:15.
Trailhead to Mt Parnassus- 3 hours 10 minutes
Mt Parnassus to Bard Peak- 1 hour
Bard Peak to trailhead- 2 hours 45 minutes
Start to finish- 7 hours 45 minutes