This convenience store is a neat place to find old-fashioned sodas and candies and beef jerky for snacks. Out front is an automatronic gold-panning display with a button that activates a talking miner.
On Cima Road we entered the Preserve and were surprised that much of the Joshua tree forest had burned. I guess we hadn't paid enough attention to all the fires this season. In August the Dome Fire ate through a lot of the park. It affected our destination. The trailhead, apart from a couple signs, was scorched.
Some cars filled the small, dirt parking area. We took one of the last couple spots and relaxed a bit before setting out. Despite the burned stuff, it was good to be in the desert with the fresh air and sand and rocky peaks. It was quiet. We couldn't hear or see the highway eleven miles away. The clear, blue sky added to the peaceful ambiance. Teutonia ridgeline was visible from the trailhead, and across the road rose Kessler Peak.
We ate lunch and prepared for a short hike, only three miles roundtrip. We planned to meander and take our time. The wide trail was easy to follow. Old grasses and bushes were little spots of ash now. The cacti were burned pretty badly, especially the beavertail. The Joshuas had put up a fight. Many had exposed white spots where all the bark was gone.
This scene lasted for about a half-mile, then we entered an unburned section.
We found thriving cacti and juniper trees.
Here one side of the trail had burned while the other side did not.
We saw one blue bird and a couple rabbits on this hike. That was about it for wildlife. Maybe a lizard or two.
The wide trail narrowed into a singletrack, and after a mile of flat terrain we started climbing up some well-placed rock steps to the ridgeline.
As we ascended easily to the peak area, we had the view of Cima Dome for which this trail is known.
(Cecelia's photo of the dome.)
Unlike other popular domes, Cima is more like a massive hill than an exposed rock formation. It is seventy square miles in size, and Teutonia offers a great vantage point from the northeast side of the rounded protuberance.
A short ways up the ridge, our trail ended at some large rocks on Teutonia Peak.
You need special skills (and possibly gear) to reach the top of these summit boulders. But I helped Cecelia manage part of the climb and she got to within ten or fifteen feet of the top.
There were plenty of cool rock formations up there. I liked this one.
After snacking and goofing around on the rocks, we made a cross-country beeline for Teutonia Mine, steeply dropping down the northeast slope of the ridge, which was mostly barren due to the fire.
Returning to the desert floor we crossed an old jeep road and then found the large grate that now covers the old mine shaft.
It's possible to see through the covering and observe the entrance to the old tunnel, which runs in two directions about twenty feet underground. Also nearby are the remains of a burned shed.
The debris has been scattered by wind (or animals) around the area. It's mostly old metal sheets and food cans, some wood and chicken wire. A short distance to the south is a barbed wire fence surrounding a collapsed entrance to the mine.
We followed the old jeep track back to the trail and casually returned to the car. While driving the scenic route around the south side of Cima Dome, we stopped to check out Kelso Depot, an old water and supply stop for trains. The visitor center was closed but the jail was still open.
