Bard Peak

Route: Herman/Watrous Gulch over Parnassus and back
Posted On: 6/25/2024, By: HikesInGeologicTime
Info: Practically unchanged since AndrewJCraigie updated over the weekend; wanted to add some general info for those also looking to go this way rather than the loop from Ruby Gulch. Trail peters out at the saddle between Parnassus and Woods. Faint trail segments with the occasional cairn from the middle of the slope above to the summit. There is something of a continuous trail down Parnassus that hits a low point below the largest snowfield I saw all day around 180 feet below the Bard saddle, according to my GPS, after which I climbed tundra on a more or less direct approach to the summit. On the way back, I stuck closer to the ridge since the snow crossings up high were short and well-traveled, so felt pretty secure. Staying more ridge proper does mean a few more ups and downs as well as dealing with more rock-hopping than dropping below the saddle to reconnect with the sorta-trail - pick your poison, but I personally found the boulder-hopping more aggravating and therefore not worth saving the 180-ish feet of elevation re-gain so will probably drop all the way down if/when I ever do the full loop. Just these two by themselves, though, make for a pleasant day hike and of course a good way to up the Front Range Bicentennial count without running as much risk of being caught above treeline when any afternoon storms roll in if you are as slow as I am and/or disinclined to starting in the dark (a disinclination I understand, as this outing is pretty enough for being that close to I-70 that it deserves to be appreciated in daylight, imho). 

Route: Herman Gulch
Posted On: 6/22/2024, By: AndrewJCraigie
Info: Parnassus & Bard - only a few very briefly handful patches of snow melting quick, easily avoided. 

Route: From Parnassus
Posted On: 12/28/2023, By: bmcqueen
Info: From Parnassus, I continued along the ridge to Bard with no snowshoes or traction. On the descent, I decided to drop down into the basin and pick up the Bard Creek trail. It would have been better to reclimb Parnassus. Bard Creek trail was a bit difficult to find, then crossed several slopes that would have been problematic with more snow/higher avalanche danger. I wore my snowshoes again from the time I hit the trail to my car. 

Route: Traverse from Parnassus
Posted On: 11/13/2023, By: Piotr
Info: Downclimb to the saddle mostly snow covered, slow going. Climb up to Bard from the saddle is 95% dry. Most of the descent to Bard Creek trail is dry as well except for the last 100' upclimb. Few sections of Bard Creek Trail had packed snow, nothing major. Great day, sunny, 40F+ at trailhead. 

Route: EngelRoBardAssus
Posted On: 7/17/2023, By: E_A_Marcus_949
Info: Summer conditions - avoidable snowfields near the summit Found a black beanie on the summit - let me know if it's yours Route: Ruby Gulch --> Engelmann --> Robeson --> Bard --> Parnassus --> down to Ruby Gulch 

Route: from Bakerville exit
Posted On: 6/27/2023, By: Jay521
Info: Tons of deadfall made this a slow climb What snow there was (not much) was either avoidable or easily crossed 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 5/26/2023, By: PeakMiller
Info: We skinned, then booted up to the saddle between Bard and Parnassus. Put on some trail runners and scooted up to Bard Pk. We grabbed our gear on the way back to head up to Parney. We skied the drainage of the north slope. Had great snow and timed it perfectly. Thunderstorms started to roll in by the time we got down to treeline. 

Route: via Herman Gulch
Posted On: 4/29/2023, By: daway8
Info: Went up Parnassus then Bard starting from Herman Gulch trailhead off I-70. Extremely variable conditions throughout the day. Trail initially a mix of dirt and ultra compacted snow. Then deeper snow where snowshoes were useful then steep but very solid snow going up the ridge (followed more or less the tracks luckyzsquirrel posted in a TR). Higher up turned to mix of snow/rock. From Parnassus to Bard got much more interesting - switched constantly from deep snow with trapdoors to exposed rocks completely coated in a sheet of ice, with ice cycles hanging off them, followed by somewhat narrow sections of ridge with steep snowfields on either side and occasionally rather large cornices. Looked like it would have been easy to go over to Robeson/Englemann but I started really late and hadn't done any significant climbs for a while so I was too beat to add those peaks. Went back over Parnassus and down same route I came up but was terribly slow getting back so it was already after 4pm before I started down and the slopes were getting very soggy and sketch by then. Was already too committed and too tired to reroute so crossed my fingers and went for it, doing some glissading with ice axe before switching to snowshoes. Towards the bottom a few whomphs freaked me out but I didn't die, and somehow didn't trigger any slides. Note to self: don't come down this route after it warms up - that felt like a disaster waiting to happen. 

Route: West Ridge via Mt. Parnassus
Posted On: 4/17/2023, By: bkcheck
Info: The ridge between Parnassus and Bard is still mostly snow-covered. There are a couple cornices further towards the saddle but for the most part they aren't huge -- you can see them in the attached photo. Snow was pretty bulletproof and a little steep in some spots so spikes might be helpful. On the Bard side of the saddle the snow is almost all avoidable if you stick to the ridge. 

Route: Shakespeare Face
Posted On: 3/18/2023, By: Geckser
Info: Arthurspiderman and I decided to get one more medium sized ski in this winter. Due to the avy risk we went for a south facing and fairly low angle route. We started at Bakerville in trailrunners with skis on our backs, this lasted till 10,300 where we started skinkng up Bard Creek. It was unpleasant until about 11,000 with low coverage but beyond that skining was easy to the saddle between Bard and Parnassus. Big Boy Gulley was in awesome shape and would make for a great ski on its own. We hit Parnassus, and doubled back to summit Bard, from the pass to Bard it was 80% on skins. The first 500 feet of the descent was on snow between 2-6 inchs of depth and made feel like I was really earning my turns :(. A wiser person than us would drop skis a little ways below the summit. Generally Shakespeare was in good shape with passing wind buff to sun crust. Really cool line! The descent was a but tricky through the forest. Really rad route, probably wont be in much longer so get it while it is still relatively good. 

Route: From Parnassus
Posted On: 10/14/2022, By: angry
Info: From Parnassus, dry to summit. Descent via Bard Creek rejoining Watrous trail. 

Route: Ruby Gulch TH
Posted On: 7/18/2022, By: kwhit24
Info: I wanted to finally hike The Law Firm so parked at the Ruby Gulch "TH" at 6am and was the first car there. By the time I got back to the car at 12:30pm there were 20ish vehicles there many of which were parked along the road. To get up Engelmann Peak I followed MaryinColorado's TR up the drainage and then used the West NW ridge to gain the summit. The rest of the hike is straight forward. Didn't see any people until I was heading up Parnassus when I saw two groups of two. Coming off Parnassus there were probably 30-40 hiking Woods and.or Parnassus from Herman Gulch TH. Coming down off Woods I traversed the slope via a game half-ass game trail until the old mine road came into view. The traverse isn't great but it looks a lot better then head straight down the steeper slopes. Once I saw the road I head straight down making shortcuts beteen the switchbacks since the slope wasn't bad. There were a couple spots I didn't see the road well but as long as I headed in its general vicinity I always found it again. Shortly after getting in to the tress I just followed to road/trail. It wraps around a little backtracking south and adding some distance but that looked a lot better than bushwhacking threw the dense trees. Plus at each creek crossing there are good rocks or pipes to help cross. (10.38 mi; 5,203' gain; 6:09:23 total time) Start at TH 6:15am; Engelmann Peak 8:10am; Robeson Peak 8:40am; Bard Peak 9:25am; Mt. Parnassus 10:15am; Woods 11:05am; Back to TH 12:25pm 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 10/21/2021, By: desertdog
Info: From Herman Gulch TH. Very little snow. Traction not needed. 

Route: From Herman’s Gulch
Posted On: 10/3/2021, By: Will_E
Info: Did a loop of Bard/Parnassus/Robeson/Engelmann/Woods yesterday from Herman's Gulch TH. Very little snow to deal with, looked like Grays and Torreys got a fair bit more. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 6/6/2021, By: dleflar
Info: Summit has a small snow field that will be gone in days. West ridge line from Parnassus to Bard is still fairly covered in snow but at most 2 feet deep in drifted spots and less than 6" most others. Route off the south slope between Parnassus and Bard leading to the Bard Creek trail is mixed with mostly dry ground and lots of snow lower down near treeline, melting quickly.