Lost Dutchman State Park, Arizona

April 17, 2023

We traveled north a few hours through the scenic Sedona desert to Lost Dutchman State Park, just outside of the Phoenix/Mesa area. This was a much anticipated location because Audrey and Alan were flying in to visit for several days.

This was probably the most scenic Walmart we have shopped at.

Lots of wildflowers were blooming along the byways.

Didn't expect to see this much color in Arizona!

Entering Lost Dutchman State Park with a view of the Superstition Mountains

Our more than satisfactory home for the next several days

Sunset against the rocks

The following day, we picked up the kids from the Phoenix airport. After a brief stop at the camper, we headed out for a drive on the Apache Trail to Canyon Lake for a picnic dinner. We had high hopes of catching an epic sunset, but unfortunately it turned out to be mostly cloudy, so there was no epic to be had. The scenery was still nice, though.

The Apache Trail

Canyon Lake

Alan found himself a big rock to climb

There were lots of scenic turnouts along the Apache Trail.

Lots of yellow flowers everywhere 😊

When we got back to the campsite, some of the clouds near the horizon cleared, and we did get a pretty nice sunset after all.

Audrey took this shot

That entire hillside is carpeted in yellow flowers!

The next morning, Audrey and Alan climbed through fields of flowers and up a good portion of the mountain behind our campsite.

Sunrise

The following several pictures are courtesy of Audrey and Alan.

The very friendly lizard.

Dinner that night was at the unique Organ Stop Pizza, home of the world's largest Wurlitzer pipe organ. You order your pizza, and then take a seat in view of the organist playing all kinds of music from pop to Disney to Chattanooga Choo Choo (where the organ sounded remarkably similar to an actual steam engine train). The kids had requested something different to do--and this fit the bill!

Friday we once again took a drive along the Apache Trail and stopped at the very touristy Goldmine Ghost Town and then the tiny town of Tortilla Flat.

Goldmine Ghost Town

In Tortilla Flat, we enjoyed some prickly pear gelato and observed a pretty hokey "gun fight". Color us unimpressed. (The gelato was good, though.)

Tortilla Flat

Back at camp, we took a walk after dinner to catch another sunset.

Julie taking a picture of Alan taking a picture of Audrey taking a picture of a sunset.

Rick taking a picture of Julie taking a picture of Alan taking a picture of Audrey taking a picture of a sunset.

The sunset.

Mission accomplished!

On Saturday morning, we took another scenic hike off our campsite (3.5 miles).

Rick took some photospheres during the hike as well so you can look around.

Saturday night included a nighttime photo shoot. Audrey and Rick got to play with the Astrophotography feature on the phone.

Sunday was mostly spent relaxing around camp and enjoying the beautiful setting and weather. We had a wonderful time with Audrey and Alan and were sad to have to return them to the airport.

Our last sunset before moving on

There is a google group email list which can send you an email when there is a new blog post. Instructions for signing up here: Subscribe OR directly join here: Google Group