Superstitions hiking and a drive to the Flats

February 25 (Sunday)
Brian and Deb drove out to Lost Dutchman this morning. We wanted to walk/hike through the 'lowlands' of the Superstition Mountains. After all, why come here if  you don't experience them up close.

Flat Iron peak is that huge angular rock just left of center. 4861 feet altitude. I walked part way up to this point on Saturday. I might have been 1/4 the way up.

We 'could' have gone all the way to the top of Flat Iron (ha!) but common sense prevailed and we hiked to our ability level. Flat Iron is at 4861 feet and is rated 'difficult'. The campground is at roughly 2100 feet so you are facing a 2500 foot vertical climb. In fact Sunday night we saw the Air Rescue chopper head up there and returned to the campground. Likely with someone who hiked a bit beyond their skill level, or perhaps was injured. It happens all the time apparently and we didn't want to find out if they charged for the trip!

Someone not having a good end to their hiking day.

We spent an enjoyable couple of hours and about three and a half miles hiking the lower portions. Still a pretty good workout for us old folks.

That's our trailer, bottom center.

Apache Junction and Mesa in the distance.

Brian and Deb

Brian and I

This is called Green Rock. It is covered with green lichen on the other side. This was where the trail led back down.

The Praying Hands. The ones on te left are hard to distinguish from this angle.

Brian and Deb (lower left) and the Green Rock. It's pretty big!

A view from near the bottom.

Lots of horses use these trails. You can go on trail rides that start around $35/hour. That would be fun!

After a drink and a bite to eat we headed up the road toward Tortilla Flats. This is a twisty road with speed limits rarely exceeding 35 MPH.

Green lichen on the rocks.

From a distance you would believe the rocks were green.

Rugged country on the way to Tortilla Flats.

I can't imagine the stagecoach ride this must have been before today's road was built.

We stopped at the Canyon Lake overlook. There is a cruise boat you can take to tour the lake, but you would want to pick a nice warm day which it was not.

The cruise boat Dolly steamboat.

Canyon Lake was formed by the building of the Mormon Flat Dam in 1925. The lake is about ten miles long.

Tortilla Flats has been around since the 1800's and was a stage coach stop and miner 're-fueling' stopover. As we have seen in this area, lots of touristy stuff and of course the gunfight!

Impressive chunk of stone!

See the hole formed by two rocks.

The hangin' tree.

Dead

Doesn't look too dead now!!

Old schoolhouse/museum

The Mexican and the Sheriff are about to dual.

Mexican fires but then his gun jams.

Everybody goes down shooting.

Main street, if you call five buildings a street, is full of stuff to spend money on.

Busy street

Didn't pay his bar tab!

Sunday afternoon traffic

Lots of character

Live band. They were pretty good!

We stopped for a beer and some early supper before heading back to Lost Dutchman. The atmosphere is the draw here. Food is just ok.

Unique barstools. These are shaped like a donkey's rear end.

Saddles for bar stools

Dollar bills plastered everywhere.

Snake skins and cattlehorns

A very enjoyable day. We won't see Brian and Deb again until July in Winnipeg so it was nice to spend time with them.

February 26 (Monday)
We had planned to head over toward Gold Canyon and further south but you know when the view outside your back door is so darn amazing why not just sit back and enjoy the view. So that's just what we did. We also need to get things in order for our move on Tuesday.

The original plan was to head towards Bullhead City on Tuesday stopping at Burro Creek for a couple of days. That changed when we decided to get a blue flame heater installed at RV Lifestyles in Quartzsite. I called and they had some heaters in stock and they could install it on Wednesday, so .....plans changed.

So Monday was enjoyed just watching the Superstition Mountains. One of the main hiking trails is called Siphon Draw. It is so appropriately named for the hundreds of daily hilers that seem to be drawn up and into the hills.

We were in site 125. On the far right. Unserviced sites but an awesome view.

Not far away is the Goldfield Ghost Town. They have a mine tour that they announce with two long steam whistle blasts. It is amazing to listen carefully to the whistle echo off the rock walls of the Supertitions. Supernatural is more accurate.

The Lost Dutchman Park is a definite must-see, and the Superstion Mountains are the main view.
.....and that was Our View From Here!