Over the summer of 2025, I decided to brave the hundred-degree heat of my hometown near Las Vegas (and its surrounding desert) to return to a hobby that, although dormant for years, has been vastly important over the course of my life: hiking. Among the highlights are the twin Teutonia and Kessler Peaks, situated in the middle of the Mojave National Preserve roughly 70 miles from my home. Although I managed to summit both peaks with a fair share of scrambling, slipping and sightings of the occasional mule deer, I forgot to search for the survey marker — a metal installation in the summit marking government survey records — at the top of Teutonia Peak. These survey markers are a capstone of sorts for hikers and mountain climbers, and it’s customary for mountaineers to take a picture with the marker to show that they came, they saw, and they conquered the peak. In 2026, I’m excited to make the long drive out from Henderson to the Mojave NP and surmount Teutonia yet again; this time, however, I’ll make sure to capture its survey marker in my camera roll.
Lemon Doroshow is a sophomore majoring in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from Henderson, Nev.
