This reports includes three early season trips taken with our friends Sandy and Jodie on the Bitter Springs Trail, to Nelson's Landing, and on a hike up the Teutonia Peak trail.
Bitter Springs Trail
The Bitter Springs Trail is an old wagon road that has been designated as a Back Country Byway. We took it on an overcast day that was warm enough for light jackets and a picnic. The trail winds through the Muddy Mountains northeast of Las Vegas. The road starts out as wide and open and then cuts between hills that close in on the road.
The road takes about 2 hours to complete. We wound slowly along the mudstone until noontime, when we stopped for lunch. The day provided for pleasant picnicking. Then we mounted up again and went on to the Buffington Pockets area, where the terrain turned more to sandstone. We wound among sandstone hills and could see sandstone mounds in the distance. The total drive was rather pleasant, especially for a winter's day.
Nelson's Landing
We took a quick trip out to the Landing to see how the wildflowers were doing. There were a few, but there was not much to see.
Joshua Trees at Cima Dome
Another winter's hike found us going up the trail to Teutonia Peak. The peak is on Cima Dome, a large granite pluton that is so big that you can't see it when you are on it. You can only tell that it is there from a distance. It is a nice, even mound of granite.
The trail winds through the desert floor for about half a mile before tackling the volcanic outcropping that is Teutonia Peak. The going gets steep wit a number of switchbacks and the trail winds around the side of the hill as you ascend it. But once you are there, you have expansive views of the desert area. It is a pleasant climb that burns the muscles a little, but well worth it. When we went, they had just removed the "phone booth." It was out in the middle of nowhere along the Cinma Road. There was some protest over it's removal from people from all over the world. The locals protested because a lot of deserdwellersrs could not afford phone coverage to their houses. Remember, this was before cellular coverage became so widespread. And, too, that there are not cellular towers everywhere!
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