Moving on

December 13, 2020

Lost Dutchman State Park

Our site at Lost Dutchman is situated at the base of the Superstition Mountains.

I believe this is a Teddy Bear cholla? There are so many different types of cholla, it's hard to tell!

Another sunset showing the red light on the Superstition Mountains.

The sunsets at Lost Dutchman were beautiful nearly every night.

This is our site at Lost Dutchman SP. Notice the cool Xmas cactus!

This morning we were up early and after breakfast, had camp broken down and everything loaded up for our trip to Lost Dutchman State Park which is located near Apache Junction.

On our way south through Parker, we stopped at Walmart to do a bit of shopping since it was a less busy time of day. After that, we headed south on Highway 95 to Quartzite where we caught I-10 east to Phoenix.

We had been curious about the ridability of 95 since it was listed as a bike route in a book we have. But we wouldn't recommend it as there was lots of traffic with little to no shoulder.

By 2 pm we arrived at Lost Dutchman SP just in time to check into our site. This is a much larger park than River Island. 138 sites vs 38. Fortunately there is lots of space between campers with plenty of saguaros, palo verde trees, and mequite. The park is situated beneath the towering Supersition Mountains.

It took us a couple of hours to get our camp set up and reorganized, but even though it was sunny out, there was a cold north wind blowing. It was not a good day to ride or even sit outside!

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Bill ShaneyfeltLDSP is one of my favorites! Great hiking! Camped there in Aug. '07 and again in Mar. '13 which was fortunately a wet spring season with lots of flowers.

Link to a fb photo:
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10200747051734770&set=a.10200730447879684
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3 years ago

Rachael AndersonGreat photos! Looks like a great spot!
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3 years ago

marilyn swettTo Bill ShaneyfeltIt was one of our favorites so far. We'll be back!
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3 years ago

marilyn swettTo Rachael AndersonThanks Rachel. It was one of our favorite spots so far. We'll be back again. Although it wasn't as close to bicycling routes like in Catalina SP.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonOddly enough, it wasn’t one of my favorites. Actually, we never got there. We turned back from a ride out that way on Route 88 last winter after about the scariest incident I can recall on a bike: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/2020part1/a-tempest-in-tempe/. You’ll never get me on that road again.
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3 years ago

Gregory GarceauHi Marilyn,

I'm having fun reading about your latest adventures and how you've figured out a way to dance in the desert. In the middle of my 2018 tour from Las Vegas to Phoenix, I biked a lot of the areas along the Colorado River that you've been writing about. I loved it. Good desert hiking too. Now I'm reminiscing as I read your journal.

I'm still not sure what kind of tour I can work in this year -- thanks to Covid -- but I've GOT to do something. (I haven't given up on that West Texas-New Mexico plan I had to cancel last March, but it's looking like that will have to wait until at least October.) A full year without a tour pretty much sucked. I still ride almost every day, but this same old MN scenery and MN snow is getting old.

Greg
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3 years ago

marilyn swettTo Gregory GarceauHi Greg - good to hear from you! Yes, we love the desert and have already made plans to return this November. Hope it will be somewhat warmer! I hear you about doing a tour. We didn't do one last year and won't do one this year either. Two years in a row with no tours! But at least we have our trailer (we've just bought a much larger Airstream) to use and can bring the bike for day rides. We've also bought an inflatable tandem kayak which will add a whole other dimension to our trips! We've owned a canoe in the past but have never kayaked. I'm picturing lazily floating along a placid lake or river with Don doing all the paddling:)
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3 years ago