One of My Favorite Things…..Hiking the Superstition Mountains

Hiking is very popular here in the Desert Southwest.  I enjoy hiking with my husband and family during the cooler months of the year.

Last year, my husband and drove to the Superstition Mountains, which is located just outside of the Phoenix metro area.  

The Superstition Mountains are a very popular destination among hikers.

Some are hoping to perhaps find the legendary gold of the Lost Dutchman’s Mine.  The legend is that a German immigrant, returning from the California gold rush, decided to search for gold in these mountains.

The story says that he came to Phoenix in the 1870’s with bags of gold and bragged that he had found  a huge amount of gold in the mountains, worth millions of dollars.  He would not reveal the exact location of his gold mine, but he implied that it was located in the Superstition Mountains.

He died in the 1880’s and some say that he revealed the location of the mine to the woman who was caring for him as he lay dying.  Since his death, thousands of people have searched for his legendary mine, but it has never been found.

People still search for the mine to this day.  So, why has no one found it?

Well, one reason may be that the Superstition Mountains occupy an area of over 159,000 acres, with rugged terrain.  Many people become lost in the wilderness.  

Another possible reason is that the mine maybe never existed in the first place.

The reason that we visited the Superstition Mountains was purely selfish on my part……

And no, I wasn’t searching for gold.

I wanted to enjoy a day of hiking in the beautiful outdoors with my husband and without my kids.

Isn’t that awfully selfish?

I encourage those of you who live close enough to visit these beautiful mountains.  There are many different hiking trails that will take you to different areas of the Superstition Mountain wilderness.

You will enjoy your visit to this beautiful place, even if you do not ‘discover’ the Lost Dutchman’s Mine 😉

You can find more information about the Superstition Mountains here.

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Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."