Off The Beaten Path
This peak guide is presented here for the convenience of our visitors.
Neither the Desert Peaks Sections or the Sierra Club guarantees the accuracy of this document. Use at Your Own Risk!
| No. 31 | Bonelli Peak (5,334') | Nevada |
| 1-Feb-97 |
This guide is based on a Sage article by Bob Michael.
Topo Map:
Jumbo Peak 7½
Coordinates: Lat 36 08 56 Lon 114 14 56
Trip Stats: unknown
DRIVING
Leaving I-15 at the Riverside exit, drive the paved portion of the Gold Butte road as though going to climb Virgin. At the pavement's end, in a picturesque area of Aztec Sandstone called "Whitney Pockets", we turn south on the excellent dirt road (a BLM "Scenic Byway") which leads to the townsite of Gold Butte, once reportedly inhabited by a dude named "Crazy Ed" who had a disconcerting habit of waving a rifle at flatlanders who got too close to his trailer. Continu on the Scanlon Ferry Road (fair to good dirt) to the junction of Twin Springs Wash and the canyon which gives access to Bonelli. The Southern Nevada insert on the AAA San Bernardino County map proved very helpful in navigating this country! A 4wd road overgrown with mean. paint-scratching mesquite goes up this canyon past "Ruby Spring". A good parking place is about 0.6 mile south of Twin Springs Wash.
HIKING
The straightforward route goes up the canyon on the 4wd track to where one strikes due south to climb a rather steep rib which tops out on a ridge which leads south to the summit.
NOTES
Views from the summit are possibly the best from any Southern Nevada summit. The entire eastern end of Lake Mead spreads out below the Grand Wash Cliffs, the dramatic edge of the Plateau. You are quite close to the mouth of the Grand Canyon, but a subsidiary ridge blocks the view of the river exiting the gate. To the west on this crackling clear day we could see structures such as the Luxor hotel on the Las Vegas Strip 60 miles away through a gap south of the Muddy Mountains. Far to the south in Arizona, the Hualapai Mountains rose behind Mount Tipton.