A Desert Stay at Lost Dutchman State Park, Arizona

The Twosna Travelers hope you had a merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a happy New Year, where ever it was you celebrated!

I have been a little quiet this past month on this blog. It was partly due to the holidays, partly due to relief at having finally finished my Europe blogs, and definitely due to Internet issues at the park we were at. This was not an inexpensive park; why was it so difficult to connect? Or, was it because my computer is now seven years old? Adding to this, the cable for our new phones will not fit my computer. This is how I transfer pictures. I can upload from Google Photos for now, but I’m probably going to have to address this sooner than later. If anyone has good ideas for me, I’m all ears.

For the third year in a row, we beat it out of Denver on November 1. There were several nightly stops in New Mexico but we did not stick around long; it was too cold there last year. This desert spot at Lost Dutchman, outside of Apache Junction, was our first destination. The warm sun was balm to our bones after the cooling temperatures in Denver.

It may not look like heaven, but perhaps a different perspective will change your opinion. We were situated in direct view of the the gorgeous Superstition Mountain range.

Every time I went for a walk around the campground loops, I would catch sight of several Gambel’s quail or at least one roadrunner, and I loved being back in the saguaro cactus forest. You can see a roadrunner on the rocks at the bottom of the picture below.

We came to Lost Dutchman to retreat, unwind, and hike. Our best hike was up in the shadows of the mountain on the Treasure Loop trail. We passed stands of other-worldly cholla on the way up.

Now, we could see close up the rock formations we had wondered about from our lawn chairs the night before.

The trail is also enjoyed by horseback riders.

Up at the part of the trail with highest elevation, we could see Phoenix in the distance and more mountains beyond. The city lies inside a ring of small mountain ranges, and the entire Phoenix area is known as “The Valley”.

Also at the top were weird rock formations–

and behind us, tucked into the mountain’s wall, a natural arch. It is on the right side of this picture.

If I ever make a list of the “Ten Favorite Things I’ve Learned While RV’ing”, one of those things would be this: that the setting sun on one horizon bathes mountainsides on the opposite horizon in a red glow before sunset. We first witnessed this at Big Bend National Park in Texas, and we have seen it in several places throughout the Southwest since then. It is a sight that thrills us every time, and the Superstitions were no exception. We pull up our lawn chairs for the brief show.

Compare this picture of the Superstition sunset glow to the daytime Superstition picture I posted above.

We never tire of this sight. We moved from here to an RV park where we could still see the Superstitions, and it has become one of my favorite mountain ranges.

Next time: horsing around by the Salt River