Distance: 11.5 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 4000' (Bonita)
Elevation Gain: 4125'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.7
Round trip time: 8 hours 40 minutes
Recommended water: 128 oz.
Parking/Fees: Adventure Pass at Heaton Flat trailhead
Difficulty: Strenuous
Sean Cucamonga and I planned to visit the long abandoned Allison gold mine about half way up Iron Mountain #1. An abandoned trail split from the Iron Mountain trail at Allison Saddle (aka Heaton Saddle aka Coldwater Saddle). It had been a couple years since I was on this trail and it had some minor weather damage. The Sheep Wilderness sign a couple of miles up was now on the ground. We took our time getting to Allison Saddle and took a long break there. It was warmer than the forecast suggested and we could see very little snow left on Iron. Snow melts fast on the south facing slopes. Then, we started down the old Allison mine trail. The trail lost elevation slowly as it traversed the canyon walls. I expected it to be overgrown with many washouts and both proved true. The first half mile was pretty easy to follow with no serious obstacles. Then, it began to degrade with large yucca invading the trail, fallen trees, and high grass that obscured the path. These slowed us considerably, but we were both experienced dealing with bad and/or no trail. In a couple of places, the remnants of the trail sloped into 50-100' cliff drops and required our full attention. I kept hoping that we had gotten through the worst sections after 1.25 miles, but it never got better. When we hit our turnaround time, we were only half way to the mine. While I am confident we could have completed the traverse, it would have required an additional 4-6 hours round trip and we would have had to crawl back in the dark. For now, the best way to Allison Mine may be from Allison Gulch. On the way back, we took the short detour to pick up Bonita Peak as a consolation prize. Bonita is on the Lower Peaks List #28 and a fresh register was placed in May, 2023. We were the second party to sign the new register book. While we did not reach our main goal, we had a pleaseant outing and enjoyed the views of Iron, Rattlesnake, and snowy San Antonio and Ontario.
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