As we pulled up to the Lost Dutchman State Park gate a ranger approached our rig saying, “Hope you have reservations.” Luckily we did.
The park is often booked solid. Only 38 of the 72 RV/tent campsites come with electric and water. When I made reservations online last week, I found we needed to split our visit between two sites if we wanted a site with electricity.
The first night we are camped on site 41, only a few steps from the free hot showers. (After dry camping on BLM land for nearly a week doing “Huggie” wipe downs and quick one-gallon showers–standing under a hot continuous spray long enough to wash one’s hair is an incredible treat.) Tomorrow we’ll move to another site for the remained of our stay.
A quick walk through part of the campground revealed a vast cross-section of visitors–there are tent campers on a bicycle tour from Michigan, fulltime RV couple completely off the grid in a class C motorhome, and at least one impressive Monaco coach. The vast majority are in pull trailers or 5-ers.
We learned from the ranger that the park is named after the fabled Lost Dutchman gold mine. It is located near Apache Junction in the Sonoran Desert, 40 miles east of Phoenix.
While we’re here, we will be hiking several of the trails that lead into the Superstition Wilderness and surrounding Tonto National Park. The impressive Flatiron Mountain towers 4,861 feet above the 292-acre park.
Photos: (Click on image to enlarge) Jimmy Smith looking up a Flatiron Mountain, Lost Dutchman (Arizona) State Park, reflected in RV’s window. (Julianne G. Crane).
