Feb 4, 2023 Day 1 Lost Dutchman Apache Junction, AZ

It is travelling day and the route has our next campground about 1 1/2 hours southeast of us. There is no interstate to travel, and our route starts out by taking us through Fountain Hills. As we are packing up and preparing to leave, Ron sees 4 birds in the air in formation – it’s the metal birds, not the feathered kind, and he’s able to capture a good photo of them. They are vintage area WWII planes and really awesome to see them flying in formation.

We leave the campgrounds at McDowell Mountain around 11:45am and stop on the dump station on our way out. Our route took us through Fountain Hills but unknown to us, the town was having a festival and the streets were packed with cars and people. RV Trip Wizard was taking us right through it and to a blocked off street where we had to turn off our route onto a narrow street. The Trip Wizard rerouted us after travelling several blocks before coming to a divided highway that we had to turn left onto. It made for some tense moments until we were able to get through the festival area and onto the highway, but Ron handled it like a champ.

With the detours, we arrived at Lost Dutchman at 1:45pm and were able to check in and go to our campsite immediately. It’s a great site with great views of the Superstitious Mountains, a paved pull-through that is perfectly level and no leveling blocks needed. We have no one close to us front and back, no one behind us, and 1 camper is across the street. We really were fortunate to secure these reservations for 12 nights and we are so excited to be here.

It’s the warmest day we’ve had yet at 75 degrees but there are light winds and it’s comfortable, especially in the shade. We put out both awnings, opened all the windows, and cranked open the fantastic fan roof vents, turning both of them on. These fans really circulate the air and the camper cools down quickly. I had pork chops to fix on the Blackstone, with diced sweet potatoes, and fixed a modified 7-layer salad before leaving our last campground. It was a really good meal and after dishes, we grabbed the camera to take a quick hike nearby. The trail is located near the dog park – our first dog park at a state park and its close to our campsite. The trail is in good shape, with tightly packed fine, sandy stone and we walk about 1/2 mile before turning back. Enroute, we see a unique sundial of a coyote.

Our neighbors across the street are from Michigan and were taking photos of the nearly full moon as we set out on our hike. Upon returning they were taking pictures of the mountain and told us there were parasailers jumping off the mountain and gliding down to the desert floor. We were able to get a few photos of them, too. Our neighbors are in their 2nd night of a 14-day stay at Lost Dutchman. They made their reservations over a year ago and again; we feel so fortunate to have gotten our site for 12 nights. They left Michigan on January 5, travelling to Florida before heading west to Arizona. They ran into some terrible weather with rain, high winds, and outracing the recent ice storm in Texas. They are equally excited to be here in the Lost Dutchman Park.

Ron was able to get a neat photo of the moon at night, highlighting the desert floor and the magnificent Superstitious Mountains.