Bonanza Trail Hike

9.4 miles of hiking • 2500' elevation gain •

We haven't been on this hike for years, and it was about time to explore it again. Unfortunately, the humidity today was overwhelming, and it was taxing to go up the steeper part of this trail.

The parking area is rather small, but we were lucky enough to have a spot for our car! The crossing at Little Cheney Creek was easy since the water level was so low. We've seen this creek look more like a river during the rainy season! The first part of the trail follows along the creek and is fairly level (after the initial climb from the parking lot). The Salmonberry has overgrown the trail in several areas, and needs to be brushed out. I brought some snips, but there's way too much Salmonberry to make a dent.

After about a mile or so the trail starts to climb up to the Bonanza Mine. We took some pictures but didn't go in as it spooks us! The trail climbs more aggressively past the mine, and will offer an excellent workout. As I said earlier, the humidity made this climb a real challenge, and we moved slowly and stopped often for a drink! At about 4 miles out you'll reach a section of the trail that is full of scree. My wife and I didn't like this section as the trail was not in great shape and narrow due to the scree piling up from the erosion. Slipping on this portion of the trail wouldn't have been very fun due to the steep off-trail slope. We think this is an accident waiting to happen for inexperienced hikers, and just our opinion. This area also afforded the best views of the wilderness that we had seen all day.

We didn't go much further than this area as we were somewhat tired from the humidity, and don't typically stay out to late on a Sunday. We bumped into about 7 hikers along the trail all day, and enjoyed the solitude. We stopped about a 1/2 mile short of the trail intersection with Huckleberry Mt..

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