Lost Dutchman State Park

Our hiking shoes came out today as we did our toughest hike since the Black Canyon in 2008, we didn’t realize that when we drove out to Lost Dutchman as we did not have a trail map for the park. We parked at the first parking lot we came to after entering the park and took out the map; based on the description we chose to walk the Treasure Loop Trail to Jacob’s Crosscut Trail and then head up the draw on the Siphon Draw Trail. We decided to go as far up the draw as we were comfortable with and then turn around, we expected about a 4 mile round trip.

 

The mountain as seen from our parking spot, the Siphon Draw Trail goes up the valley to the left of center.

 

The desert was very green, Sandy remarked that it looks like a golf course.

 

The green plants were also flowering with tiny white blossoms.

 

We start climbing.

Our route was not to bad until we turned onto the Siphon Draw where the trail started climbing and never let up. We climbed slowly and moved aside as a number of others (probably half our age), passed us by; we met up with a couple that was resting and climbed with them to the point where we turned around.

 

We took a break along the trail.

 

Sandy kept her thoughts to herself as she look up our route.

 

The trail was steep in places and pretty rugged but John maintained his pace which allowed the others to stop and rest while they waited for him to catch up. John’s left ankle is fused and the lack of that flex affects climbing as he has limited push off with that leg; descending steep slopes is harder as he can’t point that foot down so stepping onto just the heel of his boot on a steep slippery slope can be tricky, normally he tries to step down pigeon toed so he has the side of his foot to hold him.

 

John lags behind as we approached the smooth rock slope.

 

This surface was smooth enough to be very slippery if your hiking boot was wet.

 

We climbed up to a point where we were walking on a smooth bare rock surface, Sandy felt she had reached as far as she cared to go but John thought he would climb a little higher and see what was around the next corner. When John reached the top of the polished rock he looked up and about thirty feet above him sat a nice white haired lady who probably had twenty or so years on him, John decided to climb another 30 feet to talk with her. Turns out she was hiking with the group from Valle del Oro and her group had moved on up the mountain a little faster than she cared to go so she was waiting for them to return; wow, all the way down John kept looking over his shoulder waiting for that group to come thundering by.

 

Sandy (in red), waited while John walked to the top of the slippery slope. When John was picking his way down two young men came running up this slope, oh those were the days.

 

The view from where we turned around.

 

Didn’t come near the top.

 

Some of those that continued on climbed to the top of the  flat iron, the peak at the center of this image.

 

Although the majority of this hike was on Tonto National Forest Land we accessed the trails from Lost Dutchman State Park, unfortunately Lost Dutchman is set to close due to budget problems which may make it difficult to get to these trails. We had a nice climb today and burned some calories along the way so tonight after checking our budget we went out for Pizza.

Trains, Shades and Washing the Ship.

Today we walked up to the Garden Train display at Valle del Oro to see the trains run, then we took care of the last somewhat major equipment purchase we had planed for the mothership. Just for good measure John washed the motorhome for the first time since we have been on the road.

Thursday is Country Market day here at Valle del Oro which brings a lot of people into the park so the Garden Train Club decided to run their trains this morning. The display started at 9:00AM which gave us about and hour to watch before we had to be back at the mothership, we saw four or five different trains running before we decided to leave. To start a train they put the engine and a couple cars out on the track and if it runs well they add cars to make it longer. The trains were interesting, John would have liked to return later to see how many they had running but the rest of the day was spent at the mothership.

 

A train emerges from a tunnel on the Valle del Oro layout.

 

Another train crosses a trestle.

 

The controls for this portion of the layout.

 

This engine and tender are starting a run.

 

When it runs well they add more cars to the train.

 

A train runs along the river.

 

This shows the detail of the layout (lots of work).

 

Garry and Gerri Olson of RV Sunshade Company arrived to install shades on the front and large side windows of the mothership. This was a purchase we had planned for a long time but we had decided not to have them installed until we moved in fulltime. Garry measured up the windows and Gerri cut and sewed the shades while Garry installed the snaps and fit the material. Within two hours they were packed up and off to another job.

 

The windshield faces the morning sun.

 

The large side windows let in a lot of heat.

 

 

Garry installs while Gerri sews.

 

A fitting in progress.

 

We have seen some installations that didn’t look good as the material sagged and wrinkled so when we saw a unit in Dallas that looked good we asked who had done the work and the owner recommended RV Sunshades. We spoke with Garry two weeks ago and he scheduled the job for Tuesday but when they arrived he wanted to wait for warmer weather; he told us the higher temperature was necessary to adequately stretch the fabric across the windshield so he put us off until today. We are happy with the result and it already helped lower the temperature in here today, when the left side faces the sun it should make a big difference inside.

 

The finished product, note that the door window is covered, you can’t see the drivers window but it is also covered.

 

The side windows.

 

The view looking out through the windshield shade.

 

We didn’t have any other plans for today so after lunch John washed the ship; it had gotten pretty dirty and dusty since leaving Wisconsin. We checked the Valle del Oro rules, RV washing was not prohibited and there was no extra charge to wash on site so we took care of that issue at last.

Usery Mountain Regional Park and Sheriff Joe.

The rain on Saturday, Sunday and Monday was very heavy at times so we didn’t get out except to do some shopping. After being on hold waiting for the rain to end we made up for it today with a nice hike and later we attended a gathering addressed by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio here at Valle del Oro.

We got an early start and drove out to Usery Mountain which is close to us here in Mesa. We chose the 1.5 mile long (one way), Wind Cave trail which can be steep and rugged at times but is worth the effort as it pays off with a view of the valley that includes downtown Phoenix. The trail was pretty busy which included a group of about twenty people from Valle del Oro.

 

Usery Mountain from the trailhead.

 

The trail was rugged at times but doable.

 

 

 

Wind Cave.

 

The view from wind cave.

 

 

 

This afternoon we headed to the ballroom to hear Sheriff Joe; the Sheriff is controversial and his decisions about how to do his job garner national and international headlines. Despite the negative stories by the news media and demonstrations by different groups Sheriff Arpaio says he answers only to the voters of Maricopa County who have elected him as their Sheriff for six terms. Sheriff Joe found a very receptive audience here and he talked for over an hour explaining some of his policies including the famous tent city and pink underwear for jail inmates; he was an engaging and humorous speaker.

 

Sheriff Arpaio.

 

John purchased underwear to send back to the Calumet County Jail in Wisconsin.

Apache Trail

Rain was predicted for today and was threatening this morning so we decided to take a drive along Hwy 88, also known as the Apache Trail. This road is close to where we are located in Mesa and is listed as a scenic drive in our book published by Reader’s Digest.

We drove through Apache Junction and past Lost Dutchman State Park then up into the Superstition Mountains. The road reminded us of the Million Dollar Highway in Colorado as it curved through the mountains. By this time it was raining and a low ceiling limited our visibility but we drove on enjoying what we could see. The rain persisted until we were near Tortilla Flat so we drove on until there were some hints of sun then decided to turn around and revisit what we had missed rather than continue on.

 

A one lane bridge near Tortilla Flat.

 

 

 

Returning toward Tortilla Flat.

 

Tortilla Flat (lower left), and Canyon Lake.

When we got back to Tortilla Flat and saw that the restaurant was extremely busy despite the weather so we stopped at a picnic area and ate in the CRV as it was a little brisk (notice I didn’t say cold as our friends in Wisconsin would laugh at what we now consider to be cold). After our lunch we retraced our route back to Apache Junction, this time we had better visibility and were able to take some photos.

Our view while we ate.

 

Canyon Lake.

 

 

 

Return trip from Tortilla Flat to Apache Junction.

 

 

 

 

 

This was a nice drive and we may return for the remainder of the loop that includes the Theodore Roosevelt Dam and Lake. If we do not have time during this visit we will try to get back here in the future.