New road signs, old bumps for Gold Butte

New road signs are going up in Gold Butte National Monument, though the roads themselves remain rough and unwelcoming.

In recent weeks, the Bureau of Land Management and the nonprofit Friends of Gold Butte have installed more than a dozen signs throughout the monument about 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

A total of 45 signs are scheduled to be put up along the main Gold Butte Road and at “critical intersections in the backcountry where people get confused,” said Jim Boone, president of the Friends group.

“We want to help people get to the points of interest and, more importantly, get back out safely,” Boone said.

The distinctive black signs are part of a new BLM effort at “rebranding” the National Conservation Lands system. Boone said they were paid for with a roughly $20,000 grant from the Nevada Commission on Off-highway Vehicles using proceeds from OHV registration fees collected by the state.

Visitors should exercise caution when touring the remote monument.

Cell service is almost nonexistent, and “all of the roads are rough, including the paved road,” Boone said.

The main road to the Gold Butte town site is “passable in a carefully driven sedan,” he said, but all other dirt roads require a high-clearance vehicle at the minimum and, in some cases, four-wheel drive.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @Refriedbrean on Twitter.