Sun, Dec 9, 2018
|
With: | Iris Ma |
Scott Barnes | |
Matt Yaussi |
We had spent the night camped at the old townsite of Gold Butte in the national monument. In the morning we piled into the jeep to head south about 8mi for Bonelli Peak, a P1K in the southern part of the monument. The outing took all of the morning and then some, with almost as much driving as we had hiking. With a long drive back to Southern California, my companions called it a day a bit early to start back while I went off to tag a few more peaks until almost sunset.
Our starting point would make for almost 6mi roundtrip, easily the
longest hike of the weekend. We followed the continuing road
towards
Ruby Spring. As we neared the location, I noticed it was diverging some
from Bonelli so I struck off
to the south while the others,
interested in
seeing if there really was a spring (there wasn't) continued on the road.
This left me on my own for the entire journey to the summit. Much of it
was a pleasant hike through a
small side canyon
west of Garnet Valley,
easy class 1 terrain and surprisingly green for December. Recent rains
have left the ground wet and plants eager to spring to life. I eventually
started up one of several possible side ridges leading the North Ridge.
This was steep, over broken limestone rock, and somewhat enjoyable,
getting a good workout in brisk early morning temps. Arriving not long
after 9a, I'd spent just over an hour and half in the effort. There is
a small antenna at the summit (and a larger, decomissioned one a bit lower
on the ridge) powered by a
solar array.
The views
overlooking
Lake Mead and the
southern section
of the monument were quite nice. It was pleasant
sitting at the summit in the sunshine, though I eventually had to put on
my fleece as I was getting a bit chilled. Matt showed up 10min behind,
the others further back. Scott was feeling a bit sluggish and didn't
arrive until after 9:30a.
A busy register
had some 25 pages of entries, quite surprising for so
remote a peak. I photographed them all for posterity as we snacked
(courtesy Iris' Halloween candy collection) and took in the views. It was
almost 10a before we
started down,
taking the NE Ridge, for at least a
short while. Ahead of the others, Scott and I briefly discussed whether we
should drop off the ridge sooner rather than later. We shrugged our
shoulders and started down, a steep, not all that safe route, as it turned
out. Not exactly dangerous, there were
plenty of cliffs
and loose rocks to work around. We were
spread out
far enough from each other to keep from
knocking rocks on our noggins. After about 20min of this, we reached easier
ground where we reconvened and walked the remaining route back to the jeep,
following the original route through the little canyon we'd hiked earlier.
We spent another hour driving back to Gold Butte. There was more discussion and a half-hearted attempt to find a way to do Tramp Ridge and get back before 2p so the others could start their drive home. The elevation gain is something like 1,700ft and 2mi one-way from the east side, probably a three hour effort. Scott was the first to ditch the idea and quite shortly they all decided to start back. I was still planning for a few more days in the area, so I immediately started off for another hike once they left.
I stopped off briefly at the jeep
before starting up the other side of
Lime Canyon to Salt BM. I thought this was going to be
easier since the summit is several hundred feet lower, but I misjudged how
far north
the summit
was from the canyon and ended up spending almost the
same amount of time on the ascent as the earlier summit. There were the
remains of a survey tower and the expected
benchmark,
but no register on
this summit - no love for P900s around here. My return followed much the
same route. I showered
in the shade
of the WHP where I'd parked, and once
refreshed, started the drive back up towards Gold Butte. I got waylaid,
however, in looking at the maps and discovering a westside route to Tramp
Ridge the next morning. I found a place to park at a saddle in the middle
of the spur road I drove up, stopping a few miles from the summit. It
would do for a campsite and allow me an early start in the morning...
Continued...
This page last updated: Thu Feb 6 18:03:16 2020
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