This is a really easy drive from Denver. It took us a little under an hour to get there and only the last mile or so was gravel road.
There isn't much of a parking lot and when we got there at 7:30 we were vehicle #5 and you could probably only fit 7 if they are packed in pretty tight. I'm sure you could probably park on the road on the weekend assuming the mining company isn't working then.
Also note that the "trail head" is not labeled at all. From the small parking area, you walk about 200 hundred feet and there was a 4x4 road to our left that said "Closed. Avalanche Danger". We ended up going up this path and it took us where we needed to go.
Distance
It's supposed to be around 8.3 but we ended up going 8.79 after some backtracking and bushwhacking.
Elevation
You start out at around 10,000 ft. and end up around 13,500 feet. Overall, my Garmin said we had a total of 3,648 elevation gain.
Difficulty
This is a fairly hard hike. The distance isn't bad but a fairly short distance, you gain a lot of elevation. We took a slightly different approach than the normal trail should which caused us to do a lot more bushwhacking/scrambling up some fairly steep areas.
While the going up is hard due to elevation/pitch, going down is just as hard due to fairly loose rocks and the steepness. You will definitely need to be in good shape for this one.
The Hike
The first 1.3ish miles of the hike isn't much fun. You are on a 4x4 road and have a steady uphill climb on a fairly rocky road. Ruby Creek will be to your right and you can hear the water but won't be able to see it for a while. While on the 4x4 road, there is a branch off to the left that I have no idea where it goes. Make sure you stay to the right with the creek close to you.
After you've gone a little over a mile, you'll have a handful of creek crossings and will start to be able to see the mountains in the distance. This is where the trail starts getting pretty. Below is a screenshot of the path we took but it was not the correct one that is posted on AllTrails or other areas.
At one point in the trail, you are basically sharing the trail with a creek and it starts going uphill a little more and to the west. For some reason we missed this or decided to go the other way but at that point in time you should start zig-zagging up to the top of the mountain on your west side and then follow the top of it to Woods Mountain and then finally Parnassus. What we did was take the valley and followed the stream the majority of the way until we got right below Woods and then scrambled straight up. While it was fun to bushwhack through, the final scramble up was pretty tough.
Below is a picture from the valley with Woods on your far right. We went straight up to the top bushes just on the north side of the snow pack and then headed west to Woods. If you did the trail correct, you would be on the ridge to the west of this picture.
Once you get to Woods, you are awarded with great views all around you.
Unfortunately you are also rewarded with a view of your next location, Parnassus, which makes you go down to head back up again. After the last vertical going to Woods, our legs were already tired so it was a trek to get up that final incline even though the distance wasn't that bad. Below is a picture from Woods, looking to Parnassus on the right.
Parnassus also provides some really good views of the valley you just came from and Bard Peak. If I had more time, I wish we could have gone over to it.
The final push down was similar to the route we took up. As I mentioned, normally you would come in counterclockwise and hit the ridge to the two peaks and go back down through the valley. We took a slightly different path through the valley which was fun but was also quite a bit more bushwhacking going down. No matter what, the mountains kind of funnel you into where you need to go so it's hard to get truly lost.
Minus the first part of this trail, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The creek crossings were fun, I enjoyed making my own path, and the views at the top were great. I would just highly recommend doing it the correct way to save yourself from being as tired before going up the final push.
Also, we didn't see anyone else from our side of the mountain and just a handful of hikers that came in from the Herman Gulch Trailhead.
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