Lost in the Superstition Wilderness - Forget the Mine, Where's the Dutchman?

The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine is, according to legend, a very rich gold mine hidden in the southwestern United States. The location is generally believed to be in the Superstition Mountains, near Apache Junction, east of Phoenix, Arizona. There have been many opinions about how to find the mine, and each year people search for the mine. Some have died on the search.

The mine is named after the German immigrant Jacob Waltz, who purportedly discovered it in the 19th century and kept its location a secret.  According to many versions of the tale, the mine is either cursed, or protected by enigmatic guardians who wish to keep the mine's location a secret.

In one of the more popular stories, members of the Apache tribe are said to have had a very rich gold mine located in the Superstition Mountains. Famed Apache Geronimo is sometimes mentioned in relation to this story. In most variants of the story, the family of a man called Miguel Peralta discovered the mine and began mining the gold there, only to be attacked or massacred by Apaches in about 1850 in the supposed Peralta massacre. Years later, a man called Dr. Thorne treated an ailing or wounded Apache and was rewarded with a trip to a rich gold mine. He was blindfolded and taken there by a circuitous route, and was allowed to take as much gold ore as he could carry before again being escorted blindfolded from the site by the Apaches. Thorne was said to be either unwilling or unable to relocate the mine.

Today, the Superstition Mountains embrace, in part, the Lost Dutchman State Park, and, in part, the Superstition Wilderness of the Tonto National Forest.

We decided to take a day hike up through the state park and toward the Flat Iron on the Siphon Draw Trail.  The Flat Iron is a mesa or butte top located in the westernmost mountains of the Superstition Wilderness adjoining the state park:

The day was beautiful and, because in January, not hot.  We were joined by dozens and dozens of other hikers, some less ambitious than others.  Here's a view of the trail as it winds its way up into the rocks:

As we wound our way up Jacob's Crosscut Trail to reach Siphon Draw Trail, we ran into another full-time RV'ing couple, Ray and Gail, who were returning down the trail.  They have been full-timing about a year-and-a-half, which is just a little less than we have.  We must have spent 45 minutes chatting with them, comparing notes about places visited, RV'ing philosophy, life on wheels, and so on.  We exchanged contact information and promised to keep in touch.  We especially want to follow their travels because they expect to visit Alaska before we will, and we want to get the benefit of their wisdom as they acquire it!

Hiking on, as we entered the Superstition Wilderness area, the terrain grew markedly rougher:

By the time we were up in Siphon Draw and nearing the Basin, the view back westward over Apache Junction was breathtaking:

This was our first view up Siphon Draw as we climbed:

About halfway up, hikers encounter a slick sandstone rockface that is tricky to climb and descend:

The rock face continues for some distance and narrows as you spy Flat Iron over the ridge:

Beyond the sandstone rock face, we reached a point where we got an unimpeded view of Flat Iron:

This is a view of the ledge we reached - the incline rising to the right just below Flat Iron on the right side of this photo.   We could look down on the high ledge to the right:

From our perch, where we turned around, before the last climb to Flat Iron, we had a grand view of the valley.  We paused for lunch and then began our return descent:

While the entire hike to the top of Flat Iron is 6 miles round trip, we made 5 miles.  We turned around only half a mile from our goal - but it was by far the toughest half mile, with nearly vertical climbs over rough boulders.  We decided that, since we haven't been out hiking and climbing for nearly two months, we shouldn't overdue this first hike of 2014.  We returned to the trailhead with lots of photos and lots of memories of spectacular scenery.