Apache Junction

Mar 03     McDowell Mountain Regional Park - Lost Dutchman State Park    43 miles   1 hr 10 min

Our view for the next few days

Named after the fabled lost gold mine, Lost Dutchman State Park is located in Apache Junction in the Sonoran Desert, 40 miles east of Phoenix.

Very nice state park with an awesome view of the Superstition Mountain. Sites have electric and water with a separate dump station.















After getting settled into our campsite #87, we visited the Superstition Mountain Lost Dutchman Museum. Toured the 15 acre museum grounds. One of the highlights was the stamp mill. An ore stamp mill is a large mechanical device used to crush ore that contained precious metals. It uses heavy metal stamps to pound and break apart the rock, pulverizing it so that the valuable metals can be extracted for further refining.

Next stop was the Goldfield Ghost Town. In the 1890's Goldfield was a boomtown with 50 working mines in the district. Today, Goldfield features unique shops, a steak house and saloon, general store, two museums, horseback riding, and jeep tours. We stopped at the Mother Lode Mercantile and bought some fudge.

Joe with his fudge

Mar 04   Arizona Renaissance Festival

Today we drove out to Gold Canyon for the Arizona Renaissance Festival. This festival is held every year from February through April, on the weekends. The traffic to this event started 6 miles out. This is a very big deal. Lots and lots of people, many dressed in costume. Entrance was $24 each and many vendors selling all kinds of stuff. Lots of different things to eat and lots of entertainment.

Stew in a bread bowl & turkey leg for lunch

Mar 05   Apache Trail

This morning we drove part of the Apache Trail. A rich vein of history runs through this region. The Apache Trail once served as a stage coach and freight wagon route from Mesa to Globe. Indians, cowboys, and miners have all roamed the mysterious Superstition Mountains. Jacob Waltz's Lost Dutchman Mine is still waiting to be discovered in a hidden canyon.

Nice drive with breathtaking scenery

We went only 2 miles more once the road changed to dirt

Approaching Tortilla Flat, road was flooded

Thought our car was going to drown

The highlight on this trail is the famous authentic Stagecoach stop of Tortilla Flat. The Tortilla Flat Superstition Saloon has been serving adventurous travelers for over 100 years. We had lunch here and the food was excellent. We got there about 11am and got in right away but when we were done, there was a lot of people waiting to get in.

Tortilla Flat Superstition Saloon

At the bar, seats are saddles

Bathroom was very colorful

This afternoon we did a hike. According to our trail map, Treasure Loop Trail is a moderate 2.4 mile loop, elevation change of 500 feet. We started from our campsite so I thought probably 3 miles total...perfect for us. We huffed and puffed all the way up. According to my fitbit, we went over 4.5 miles. Was kind of steep so we had to stop and rest several times. Took us 2 hours to complete. Joe wasn't very happy....motrin tonight!

Kind of steep