We spent day 28 (3/10) of our trip at the Lost Dutchman State Park east of Phoenix, and on the western edge of the Superstition Mountains. It's named after a fabled lost gold mine (story link). We weren't searching for gold, like some modern day Yosemite Sam, but enjoying the weather and scenery. We had a nice 4-mile hike in 68ºF weather up to the volcanic tuff mountains, which were thrust up about 20 million years ago.
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Lost Dutchman State Park
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Bebop did a coyote impression and Elena did a pointing cactus impression. The sunset was the (literal) star of the day as we watched it drop behind a giant Saguaro cactus from our camper van window.
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Bebop doing a coyote impression
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Elena doing a pointing cactus impression
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The quintessential desert sunset
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The next day we drove across the mountains and stopped on the edge of the town of Superior. I had read about an old, closed obsidian mine that was accessible to the public. Another 4 mile round trip hike brought us to the mine. There are warning signs not to enter and a large fence with razor wire at the top, but someone had conveniently cut a big hole in the fence, so we strolled in for closer inspection.
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The old mine
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Obsidian, also called Apache Tears, are black volcanic glass. They were laying on the ground and cemented in the pearlite walls. We picked up some and chipped a few out of the walls. I noticed Elena's pockets bulging at one point. "Are those rocks in your pockets, or are you happy to see me:" I thought. It was rocks.
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The bounty
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We continued eastward at spent the night at Roper Lake State park near the base of Mount Graham, a 10,700' snow capped peak jutting up out of the desert.
- Paul
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