It was time to say goodbye to the cool mountain weather and head to Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction, just outside of Arizona. The landscape on the drive down into the desert valley was dramatic and stunning.
Less than a mile from Lost Dutchman State Park when we had to stop. A wild fire had just started and it was going from the park, across the road, and growing. The highway was closed, fire trucks were racing to the fire, and all we could do was watch. After about 20 minutes, we had to turn around. Unsure where we were going, or if we needed to find another place to park our home for the night, we headed down to a tourist mining camp type place to see if the fire was going to spread, and if the highway was going to open back up.
We were sitting in the camper looking for options to camp for the night when a fireman knocked on the door and told us they were evacuating the area. So, we closed it up, jumped in the truck and found a safer area to regroup and figure out our next steps. Last year we had stayed at a campground about an hour south, we looked and there were plenty of spots available, so we booked a site and headed south. Aaron had plans to stay there in about a week’s time anyway, so we figured one more night there would not hurt. On the way, we stopped and grabbed a pizza and had a dinner pizza picnic in the truck before we settled in for the night. It way to hot to eat in the closed camper, or outside.
On our way to Pinal Park, we got a call from Lost Dutchman. The park was not badly damaged and would reopen to campers the next day. That was great news! We got ourselves parked, cooled off the camper, and prepared ourselves for moving day two.
We finally made it to Lost Dutchman! This park sits at the base of the Superstition Mountains where it is said that a very rich gold mine, The Lost Dutchman, is supposed to be. According to legend, Jakob Waltz, a German immigrant found the mine in the 19th century and kept the location a secret. No one has found the gold mine, and according to legend, it has been searched for since at least 1892. Aaron and I had no plans to search for the mine in the desert, in the summer. We were just happy to have water and electric hookups, and a place to park our camper. It is a beautiful park with tons of hiking available, and we would love to go back and explore when the temps are below 100+ degrees.
We celebrated Aaron’s birthday while we were there with dinner out with our oldest son, Gage. He lives about 30 minutes from the park, and drove over to Apache Junction to meet us to celebrate another year of Aaron. They both hate having their picture taken, so this was the best I could get.
After five days at the park, it was time to pack it up again. Aaron was going back to Pinal Park for a week, and I was headed to Gage’s place to take care of Lola and house-sit so he could spend the 4th of July week in Florida with our other two kids, Mason and Jenna.
We both hope that we will return to Lost Dutchman again.
Wandering Cindi 