1/10 recommend this route. 1 for the gully not being so terrible, but the before and after is 0, very unpleasant. Left the parking lot at 4:15am to get a good start in order to do Evans, then Sawtooth, then Bierstadt. (We had already climbed Bierstadt before so we wanted to make sure we got to Evans before any weather). The willows are your first giant obstacle, and trust me when I say they are absolutely horrendous. There are numerous random trails you might find, but they soon disappear into more thick, 3-6ft tall willows. Very hard to navigate in the dark. It is also basically a giant swamp, too, with tons of mud and soggy grass. I definitely recommend bringing an extra pair of socks or really good water proof boots. The top of the gully loses the trail, so continue going SE up the ridge until you see the notch in the noted pictures. There is still a ways to go to Evans from there, so make sure you have enough time if you are planning on doing the combo. Coming up the backside of Bierstadt is a slog, but there are loads of cairns and its pretty straightforward. Stay lower along the towers to avoid class 4 moves. About a 12 hour day and we are in good hiking shape. All in all, I would avoid this way. Beautiful, but very humbling route to take. Safe hiking!
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