Bonelli NV, east of Lake Mead; twice in 24 hours

pics by Harlan W. S.
Feb 20-21, 2009

This extremely remote peak requires a long drive around Lake Mead, on some questionable roads. The views are quite commanding and unusual; there is really no other mountain that gives such vistas, from the Grant Range and Ward Mountain in the north, west to Charleston, to the Hualapai Mountains in the south, and the Grand Canyon and Trumbull in the east. Of course, there is a short view to the lakeside mountains of Lake Mead. Unfortunately, it was a little hazy when we were there. You really need a 10x zoom and clear day to capture the significant mountains, as some peaks are very far away.

The normal routes up the mountain are easy class 2; the east side is more aggressive and cliffy.

The first day we got to the campsite around noon, and left the car to explore around 12:05PM. After we walked about 1.5 miles, Ali’s black long pants started to heat up in the sun, and he decided to wait till the next day for the full climb, so I went over the top of the mountain and looped down the hairy east side. My route was about 6.5 miles RT, since we started lower down the road, opting not to scratch all the paint off the car with the tough acacia bushes. It took me 1h 38m from the car to get to the top.

The next day we repeated my ascent, but dropped down an easier ridge. Ali found a way to stay high and avoid most of the nasty acacias (catclaws).

Needless to say, this is a cool-weather hike. The only water is the creepy stuff in the quail-watering areas. We saw one burro, one rabbit, lots of quail, and lots of chipmunks. The catclaws and creosotes are as close as one gets to trees.

Near Gold Butte, the rocks are principally very old granites. Near Bonelli, almost all the rocks are metamorphic garnet gneisses, with some quartz-muscovite and pegmatite veins. However, most of the garnets have been altered by retrograde metamorphism, and often appear as nearly black, equant masses (possibly now aluminosilicates, biotite, and oxides). Geologically interesting, but very stark. The human history is interesting; check here and here.

The route in from near Gold Butte, The road is good gravel to Gold Butte.	A closeup of the routes on the two days; blue for the 1^st day. The east-side route is much iffier.	On the way in are several interesting features. One is Devil’s Throat, which is a huge deep steep-sided pit in the alluvium. My guess is that a sinkhole opened up in the limestone bedrock several hundred years ago, and pulled the alluvium down inside.
You can see the size of the throat.	Now on my quick solo; Bonelli is to the south, and I’m passing over a mainly-quartz pegmatite vein.
The GC is at left.	This view to NNW to the snow-covered Grant Range in far distance.	Straight W across Lake Mead down the Narrows of Boulder Canyon. This cleft was originally slated to be the site of Hoover Dam.
		Valley of Fire is the pinkish area in the distance.
NW and arrogance.	There were two registers; this one from 1990, and a 1993 McLeod-Lilley register, which had just Anya and Henry J’s 2005 signatures.
		View S.
View N by Virgin Peak.	Now I start the “more challenging” descent down the east side, view SSW. The E and S sides are quite steep; there are *almost* always class 2 work-arounds.	View back up to the peak, There was a piece of dust on my camera lens, which I didn’t see till 2 days later!
View N during descent.	Next morn, our campsite.	Ali heads S; Bonelli catches morning rays, about 7:45 AM.
	View East.	At top of the the one slight class 3 on this route.
Jumbo Peak is at L.	The pegmatite again.	Near the peak.
		Muddy Mountains in mid-distance.
The Narrows again.
Panorama, as Ali signs in. Jumbo is the peak at R with the knob on top.		View SW to Temple Bar area.
View S.
Typical gneiss, with boudinage of feldspar.	We found 4 abandoned, old canteens.	Ali, Barrel cactus, and Jumbo.
Partially retrograde, dark garnets.		Muscovite and quartz vein weathered out of host rock.