The Lost Dutchman Park & Canyon Lake

Apache Junction, AZ 

Lost Dutchman SP

 

I have been to many parts of Arizona over the years since Steve's father lives in Surprise and our friends, Doug & Dotty live not too far and they have taken us around the state over the last couple of years.

 

I have been looking forward to the Apache Junction area and hiking in the Superstition Mountains. As we came up from the Benson area it was a beautiful site to see these peaks jutting up from the desert floor.

Entrance to the park.

The desert was still in beautiful bloom.  So green.  The park was quite full when we arrived.  There are some really great sites.  The view of the mountains are right out your door.

 

 The setting sun is reflecting on the rear of our rig.

These folks had spectacular sites across from us.  A direct view, no one between them and the peaks.

A typical back in site.  The sites are typically very long.  Large RVs would fit here easily.

Time for a little walking around.  My hike later in the week to Flat Iron is described as strenuous and I need to adjust to the altitude again.  I'm used to high altitude hiking as I regularly hiked in the Sierra Nevada's where we lived before heading out fulltime, but it's been many months on the road and we've been mostly following the coast, so I need more altitude hikes. (more on the hike on the next post).

 

The Saguaro cactus grows only in the Sonoran desert in Arizona, Mexico and Southern California.  They can get up to 50ft tall and can live up to 200 years.

 

When they begin to die you can see the ribs inside.  They are used to build homes, furniture and other uses.

 

 

 

There were a lot of blooming flowers and trees everywhere.

This wolf sundial was an Eagle Scout project.

 Some of my favorites!

 

You can see some homes near the campground in the distance.

 

We had some great neighbors, Gary & Rene.  They are a flight attendant and pilot for Delta Airlines and split their time in Colorado and Arizona.  They were fun to hang with and we shared a couple campfires and a dinner trip to Goldfield Mine.  Gary had me all pumped for my hike to Flat Iron as he had just done it that day.

Restaurant at Goldfield Mine.

And with the high temps that have come out, so have the rattlesnakes.  This one was across from our campsite.  The camp hosts were out immediately to relocate it.  They say they are starting to see them each day in the campground now.

 

We were happy to hear about the nearby Canyon Lake from Gary and Rene.  So off we went to cool down and do some paddling.  We didn't think we'd be doing any kayaking until we got back to California in May, so this was a surprise treat.

I had a hard time capturing the nice colors in the bright sun.

Look at that lake in the middle of the desert.

You can get a ride on the Dolly Steamboat and check out the lake.

We put it near the marina and then parked along the road.  Our goal was to paddle along the west side of the lake to the river inlet.  No one was here but us.  The tall walls were very deceiving and winded back quite a bit allowing us to discover beautiful views, chirping birds and some very acrobatic chipmunks running up and down the steep walls.

 

 

The sun was going down and it made for the most stunning reflections! 

 

This passage just got more and more narrow...

With beautiful colors...

Until we couldn't get paddle any further!  Time to head back.

Someone else trying to catch all the fish we could see just below the surface.

Full moon coming up.

 Nice colors reflecting on the lake.

 

 

 

Next up, hiking to Flat Iron!

(the middle peak with the think white line through it)