Day 26--Superstition Mountains

This morning we drove to Lost Dutchman Mine State Park and hiked around 5 miles along several parts of trails in the Superstition Mountains, some of it very steep. We decided not to try the Siphon Draw trail that climbed to 4300 feet, just below “The Flatiron”. We were satisfied with the view over the entire Phoenix valley from 2580 feet Green Boulder. At the beginning, the desert looked very much as it had in Tucson. But as we climbed we saw less saguaro, Cholla and ocotillo. The desert floor is also greener here than it was in Tucson. Back at the trailhead we enjoyed our picnic. We then drove along Apache Trail Highway, named for the Apache workers who put in the road in the 1930s to take materials to build Theodore Roosevelt Dam. It climbs and twists and turns up the side of the mountains and into the lake area of flooded canyons. We saw Canyon Lake and Apache Lake. We stopped at the kitschy town of Tortilla Flats, where the Lost Dutchman set-up a hotel and restaurant, and which was the last stagecoach stop along a true Wild West frontier trail. After a prickly pear ice cream cone we returned to the campsite to read and enjoy the sun, spa and pool. We visited with Uncle Don and Aunt Mary at the hospital and were relieved to find that he was being released. We made plans to see them tomorrow evening and then walked to the Sundance Restaurant by the KOA for their all-you-can-eat beef Bar-B-Que ribs.