The 3-mile hike up the dead-end road to Deer Spring climbs slowly, then I hike over the summit of Cima Dome through joshua trees

Along Deer Spring Road, as I climb up to 5400 feet, I'm enjoying very nice views down to "the back side" of the Mojave National Preserve cinder cones (not in this photo), which I haven't seen before from this angle. I wish my camera weren't broken!

I reach Deer Spring and its corral, but its water sits stagnant in a cattle trough, so I don't bother pumping water here.

After a short break, I leave Deer Spring at 16h30 and follow an old closed road that's not on my maps and which, it turns out, rises over the summit of Cima Dome at almost 5800 feet. Sweet! At the Cima Dome summit is a survey marker labelled "Teutonia." This road doesn't appear to be hiked often. My compass is useful for checking my direction on the way up since I can't see beyond the thick joshua tree forest for a while.

The area of the Cima Dome summit turns out to be an unplanned highlight-of-the-day with a lot of Mojave wildflowers, joshua trees and views of Mojave National Preserve in all directions, as well as the back (west) side of Teutonia Peak.

East of the Cima Dome summit, the old road appears to head south toward Cut Spring, instead of northeast toward my campsite. To cut down on mileage, I hike a couple of miles cross-country, first toward Teutonia Peak, then around the south side of its base, passing briefly through a wash area of thick brush, then over a low, rocky rise. The serenity and scenery out in this area (lots of rocks, flowers and joshua trees) makes me again wish that my camera were still operational.

I eventually rejoin the Teutonia Peak Trail and follow it back to its beginning at Cima Road.