Lost Dutchman State Park

When we left Quartzsite, we stopped in Buckeye for a couple nights to do laundry and take care of our tanks. From there we headed to Lost Dutchman State Park on the eastern side of Phoenix. This park is very popular and we were happy to have reservations to spend the week with friends. Little did we know that we would spend time with more friends than we had planned.

As we navigated the narrow streets of the campground and approached our site, we noticed a familiar rig parked in the site right next to us. Our friends, Jim and Corinne, from Rochester were here! This was a very pleasant surprise. We spent the afternoon catching up in the warm sun of Arizona. When dinner time rolled around, we grilled out a bunch of brats and others provided some sides as our old friends from Rochester got to meet our new friends from the road.

The next morning, the majority of us headed out on a hike where some of us planned to hike all the way up to the Flat Iron and others planned to go only part way. We had attempted this hike last year and had turned around due to its difficulty and the amount of daylight we had left. This year, we were determined to make it to the summit. Along with Debbie and John, we made it to the top and took in the fantastic view. After a short rest, we had the daunting task of working our way back down the mountain. There are several sections that are very steep and required sitting down and sliding in order to avoid a potentially nasty tumble. Along with Picacho Peak a few weeks ago, we have now hiked two of the area’s most challenging and rewarding hikes.

After returning to our RV and showering up, we headed out to dinner to meet up with Dan’s high school classmate, Keith. Keith has spent most of his adult life here in Apache Junction, AZ. Dan and Keith have not seen each other since they graduated Dirigo High School together in 1980. We had a great time at Keith’s favorite watering hole and he and Dan spent the evening catching up. A great perk of the traveling lifestyle is the ability to reconnect with long lost friends as you travel the country. All you need is a means to learn where they are and social media has helped to make that easier. We will definitely see Keith again in the future as we continue our travels and with our daughter living in the Phoenix area, we’re sure we’ll be back many times.

We spent the next couple days hanging out with Jim and Corinne. Our daughter, Kristina, came over to spend Wednesday evening with all of us and planned to return on Friday with her partner, Rob, to spend the night. Jim and Corinne had to leave Friday morning. Later that evening, we had a full rig as John, Tina, Debbie, and Steve joined us for some socializing. We had previously mentioned to Steve that Kristina was fond of scotch (this might have come up as we sampled Amy’s bourbon one evening). So, when Steve came over, he brought three bottles of very good scotch for all of us to sample. We had a great time trying to compare the Glenmorangie, Johnnie Walker Blue, and Glenfiddich.

Saturday was Amy and Kristina’s birthday and we had a fun filled day. We started out with a hike around the foothills of the Superstition Mountains with John and Tina. We then went over to the small ghost town nearby which was the same location we had met Keith on Tuesday. After doing the tourist thing and watching a gunfight being acted out, we headed off for a birthday dinner. We all enjoyed our meal and after Kristina and Rob left, we walked over to Debbie and Steve’s site to join them, John and Tina for a campfire. This was a great way to end a great day and a wonderful week at Lost Dutchman State Park.