Latest:	1 Jun 2022 (2 yrs, 11 mos ago)

Reported by:	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Quality:	Good
Waterflow:	Low
Wetsuit:	Thin wetsuit
Water temperature:
Difficulty:	Normal
Time:	4 hours

Team: 3 people

Trip report URL:

Comments: This run with the ladies was rather slow, since they were more interested in chatting that running a canyon. No worries, and Bonita was beautiful as normal (see pic), and had a decent water flow. There is very little left of the big tree that was R2 (stump can be seen in pic).

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
16 May 2025	Good	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	5 hours	2 people Intermediate	PsychoWard (37 reports)
Comment: Some good rappels. The beta for the transition from R1 to R2 is very helpful. Rappel two was the highlight for me. I wish there wasn't so much graffiti everywhere, but the waterfalls are pretty accessible to the general public, so that's what you get. Was comfortable in a 3mm. Anchors were in good shape.
3 May 2025	Great	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	5 hours	6 people Beginner to Advanced	BryceM777 (14 reports)
Comment: Bonita is such a pleasant day especially since it has a lower “pay to play” ratio than its sister Lytle. The only tough part is the bushwhack up to the top of the ridge after spotting hobo rock. In light of this being the most grueling section, I will say that you can minimize the bushwhack by choosing faint game trails that avoid a lot of the bushes. The topo gives a general direction upward but following this to a tee may end up leading you through thick brush. Make decisions based off real time canyon obstacles not necessarily off the beta. Our group made this trek on an overcast day which made this adventure a lot more enjoyable before hitting the technical section. We created new webbing on R2 and replaced the webbing on R4 to avoid the hollow sounding tree branch and slung webbing to the main tree. R2 and R4 really make this whole canyon worth it. I definitely recommend this route as a great half day!
4 Apr 2025	Good	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	4 hours	1 people Intermediate	Canyondozer (8 reports)
Comment: Morning run of bonita. Not too much flow, so long as one can handle the approach no further issues were encountered.
12 May 2023	Ok	Moderate	Thin wetsuit	Normal	4 hours	2 people Intermediate to Advanced	Teamsnuggle (13 reports)
Comment: Approach is pretty steep and loose and there is abundant poison oak, mosquitoes and ants where we suited up. Two pretty rappels, straightforward, anchors are fine.
1 Jun 2022	Good	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	4 hours	3 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: This run with the ladies was rather slow, since they were more interested in chatting that running a canyon. No worries, and Bonita was beautiful as normal (see pic), and had a decent water flow. There is very little left of the big tree that was R2 (stump can be seen in pic).
3 Apr 2022	Great	Low	Rain jacket	Easy	3 hours	9 people Brand new to Expert	Eljefe62 (56 reports)
Comment: Water was not that cold, but wind was, waiting for rappels. No issues pulling does, all the webbing was good thanks to many recent trips during the Roundup.
1 Apr 2022	Good	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	3 hours	12 people Beginner to Advanced	Nclegg (407 reports)
Comment: Approach is not fun. Recommend spacing out in the lower section, as there is plenty of unstable rock. Once on the ridge, trail became well defined, though was still steep and loose. Countless ants and mosquitos assaulted us as we geared up above R1. Lots of graffiti and trash throughout the canyon, but R2 and R4 are beautiful rappels and make the route worthwhile. Packed out some trash from below the final waterfall. 3 hours from Bonita Campground and back...for a group of 12...with a LOT of waiting around.
17 Oct 2021	Great	Moderate Low	Rain jacket	Normal	6 hours	4 people Beginner to Expert	Estunum (34 reports)
Comment: The hike up sucked just as much as I remember. I don't like it. Almost as much as I don't like the anchor for the second rappel, the top of the first 160'; it's just two small trees. They seem stout, but they have no backup, although you get the illusion of a backup because two trunks are slung, but they go to the same root system. I'm just weary now because the original tree was a beast, and look at it now, ripped out all stupid-like at the bottom of the pool. If that thing failed, what are those two little twigs gonna do? Hold my fat ass is what they'll do. They did just fine. It is difficult to fully trust the root system you cannot see. Would you just rap off a cairn or rebuild it? I think bolts are appropriate here, ideally without webbing, even though that isn't crucial as it can be far enough from the water course. Or just rap from the top and prepare for a weird pull. I don't know the solution to anything, just trying to meet my word count here. Extended time was due to the new guy having a hard time on rappels but we made it out without major injuries or insults. We still talk to each other as of time of writing, so it couldn't have been that bad. Views were great, saw a mine tunnel I had not noticed before. People still very much suck, so be prepared for a wilderness art gallery on the wash and bottom of the last falls.
16 Oct 2021	Great	Deep pools	Rain jacket	Normal	4 hours	4 people Beginner to Expert	TJoelle (4 reports)
Comment: Water is flowing nicely, and falls are beautiful as ever. Water very cold and first pool is waist to thigh deep. Warm with wool socks and rain shell. Bring rapides bc we switched a huge one out, and there are still some interesting ones in there worth replacing. Webbing good. Face level poison oak everywhere. Last pool about knee deep. No ticks.
5 Oct 2021	Amazing	Very Low	Rain jacket	Easy	3 hours	2 people Beginner to Advanced	Stinky buds (7 reports)
Comment: Thanks willie for re webbing the first rappel Also noticed rappel 3 was re rigged (ty whoever did that one too) There’s really nothing new to report Went after our first rain fall but water is still ver very low But makes fun for a short sweet canyon All rappels have great anchors
20 Jun 2020	Great	Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	3 hours	2 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: We took our time on the rappels and enjoyed the amazing beauty of Bonita's big drops. The water flow is nice, but cold; I enjoyed having a full body 3/2mm. We rappelled from R1 tree anchor all the way down R2 at 180 feet. R1 webbing was missing; we replaced it. All the other anchor webbing is good. The bottom of the last rappel was a zoo, and almost no one had masks for COVID19, so we left that area quickly and changed out of wetsuits at the main creek. In the photo (here) you can see what is left of the old R2 anchor tree's trunk in the hanging pothole about 10 feet up. BTW, the last part of the approach dropping into the creek bed needs some TLC to remove excessive poison oak!
28 Dec 2019	Good	Low	Thin wetsuit	Special challenges	3 hours	3 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: There was a good bit of snow on the approach ridge, making for a more challenging climb up. The water flow is strong, but nothing near class C. The water temp is frigid! We all had plenty of layers; I wore a thin farmer-john wetsuit with neopene socks, rappelled first, and setup a guided rappel for the others so they would not have to wade in the deep parts of the pools. The air was cold too and blowing. If it was warmer in the canyon, I'd give it a "great" rating, but my hands were numb with my leaky 5mm neoprene gloves, so it got a "good" rating. BTW, the R2 tree fell down the drop and broke into many pieces. We used the R1 anchor and rappelled all the way to the bottom with 200 foot ropes.
17 Sep 2019	Good	Low	Rain jacket	Normal	3 hours	1 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: It's a bit of a Bonita Bugfest in the trees of lower canyon approach, and on the ridge going up, but not many flying bugs in the technical canyon proper. The big tree is still quite wiggly all the way to the base of the trunk. I set a different anchor off 2 small trees, about the same vertical level, but DCR of the big tree. That anchor works well for now. The big tree needs a major pruning job to remove the large weight loading of dead wood. Graffiti is bad as always, even in between the big drops. I picked up a dozen beer cans and cardboard beer cases in between the big drops too. For R3 someone rigged a 16-3 electrical power extension cord as a hand-line down the whole drop, which I removed from the canyon. There is still a full sized shovel and 5 gallon bucket at the top of R4. All anchor webbing is reasonable new, except R3 webbing is missing. The water temp is quite cold; rain jacket is enough, but not to stay in the water long. The water flow is surprisingly high for so late in the season, and the moss and ferns are beautiful and untouched by all these other poor users.
17 Jun 2019	Great	Low	Rain jacket	Special challenges	4 hours	1 people	Willie92708 (997 reports)
Comment: I spent an extra hour pruning the approach on the ridge, as some spots had plants that had fallen over the trail, and others just needed trimming back, especially the sticker bushes. I also evaluated the R2 anchor tree, which is still alive. However most of the top of it is dead, rotting, and about ready for big chunks to fall down. Definitely need to be careful about shaking this tree! All the anchors have fresh webbing. Poison Oak is heavy along the approach trail at the bottom, dropping into the creek off the ridge, and in a few spots making your way to the first rappel. Water temp is warm enough that neoprene socks and gloves are overkill, but cold enough that just a rain shell will be chilly rappelling into the pools at the bottom of the 2 big drops. I put on 3mm wetsuit bottom and a rain jacket and was plenty warm in the spray and standing in the pools.
16 Jul 2018	Good	Very Low	None	Normal			Engreric (1 reports)
Comment: There were no anchors on last 2 rappels so I placed new ones