Apache Junction, Lost Dutchman

We left Malibu for Apache Junction, Arizona where we stayed at the Lost Dutchman State Park which abuts not only Superstition Mountain which you will see in the pictures below, but also the Tonto National Forest. This was a really great camping ground - steps away from trails that led into Superstition Mountain. Inexpensive at about $20.00, but you should be careful about checking where your campsite is because the bathrooms can be quite far -- in fact, we drove to them!

The Park is named after a German immigrant - Jacob Waltz - who actually never really was lost, and wasn't Dutch either, but the goldmine he discovered (allegedly) was lost. How does that happen? People still look for it. The Town is called Apache Junction because it is a cross road between an Apache Trail that the Apache took through the Superstition Mountains and the junction with U. S. Route 80. Finally, the mountains are called Superstition Mountains because there are many Indian legends surrounding the mountains so Superstition Mountains became a somewhat dismissive name given by the white folk to the Mountains.

The most challenging hike at Lost Dutchman Park is climbing to the Flat Iron peak of Superstition Mountain which takes about three hours to do one way and involves hard climbing at certain parts (bouldering?) Neither of us are really prone to accepting physical challenges, except for Harry's days of marathoning, but I took it into my head to climb to a lower part of Superstition Mountain. After much stopping and starting, we made it. I believe we were in excess of 4,500 feet there, but let's be clear, the camping area is at 4,000 feet. This State Park would be a great place to train and eventually do the more challenging Flat Iron hike. I'm pretty sure some of my friends (Tamara?) would be able to do it just right out of the box.

We were lucky to meet up with some great friends on this segment of our trip. We had a lovely dinner with Harry's cousins, Russ and Edna, while here and that was awesome! They live 30 minutes from Apache Junction but were kind enough to join us in AJ since we had driven all day. Thanks Guys! The next night we drove 30 or so minutes to Fountain Hills to have dinner with Harry's old Peace Corps pals Kirby and Linda. That was really fun.

After two nights in Apache Junction we set off for Las Cruces where we had another great dinner, again with Harry's friends from the Peace Corps, Linda and Dan. Great seeing you Linda and Dan! We didn't spend too much time in Las Cruces, just enough to explore the Mesilla area, which borders Las Cruces, and we added a goat, Billy, to our camping family. I'm sure you will see him in later pictures. Mesilla is an authentic part of the old West, having affiliations with Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett and Pancho Villa. I think these guys were interested in Mesilla because it served as a stage coach hub for many years. But then when the railroad came through this area, it went through neighboring Las Cruces rather than Mesilla (they wanted too much for the land), which resulted in Las Cruces becoming a booming town and Mesilla staying small and joining the National Historic Register.

I am including some pictures of the terrain going deep into East Texas - destination Davis Mountains State Park -- where we planned on visiting Marfa, Texas!Read more