Mt Bancroft – 13,262, Parry Peak – 13,391, and Mt Eva – 13,130

RT Length:  7.29miles

Elevation Gain: 3921’

I got lost in the dark on the drive up to Loch Lomand and accidentally took an intense 4WD road.  Let’s just say, if you’re on a 4WD road that requires serious 4WD skills, you’re on the wrong road.  I made it to Loch Lomand, passing several great dispersed camping sides along the way, parked, and was on the trail at 5:45am. 

It was still dark when I started out, and I didn’t take the most efficient route, but your main goal is to get to the upper basin, near Lake Caroline. I did this by following a trail around the Loch, and then heading west, up a gully.  You’re aiming to get here, by avoiding as many willows as possible.

I started by following this trail

And then headed up a gully

Eventually the willows ran out, and I was on rocky tundra.  I followed this tundra west

Once un the upper basin, I kept Lake Caroline to my right and gained the ridge.  This can be done any number of ways, Here’s my route:

It was rocky here, but all class 2

Once on the ridge, I could see the summit cairns to the northwest, and aimed for the summit of Mt Bancroft.

I summited unranked Mt Bancroft at 7am.  There were two large cairns at the summit.

Mt Bancroft:

From Mt Bancroft I turned and looked west.  It was a simple ridge hike to both Parry Peak and Mt Eva.

I followed the ridge west towards Parry Peak. Here the wind picked up, and didn’t stop for the rest of the hike.  There were faint trails here

I summited Parry Peak at 7:30am

Parry Peak:

It was WINDY!  Much windier than the forecasted 5-10mph.  I was glad I’d packed my winter gloves.  As I recall, the last time I was on this ridge it was super windy as well.  The wind made the nice day quite cold. There was a storm coming in, so I kept going, turning and following the ridge southwest towards Mt Eva. There are faint trails here too.

This was another simple ridge hike, that got a bit rockier at the end.

I summited Mt Eva at 8am

Mt Eva:

Today felt really laidback:  it was easy to cruise along the ridgeline, without any major obstacles keeping me from slowing down. Here’s looking back at Parry Peak and Mt Bancroft from Mt Eva

There was a downed communications tower near the summit of Mt Eva.  I’m guessing wind was involved.

And now to head back to Parry Peak. 

I re-summited Parry Peak, and then headed back to Mt Bancroft.  I decided to actually summit these peaks again, as it felt like a really easy day and I welcomed the extra elevation gain.

Mt Bancroft from Parry Peak

I re-summited Mt Bancroft, and then followed the ridge southeast

Here’s my overall route out of the basin, keeping Lake Caroline to my left this time

I just kept aiming east, for Loch Lomand

It was much easier in the light of day to navigate my way

I made my way east to the trail, then followed the trail southeast to my truck

I made it back to my truck at 10:15am, making this a 7.29 mile hike with 3921’ of elevation gain in 4.5 hours.  I was surprised at how quick todays hike seemed to be. As I looked behind me, huge storm clouds were starting to form:  it’s going to snow!