The Lost Dutchman

Hats off to Arizona State Parks

Lost Dutchman State Park sits right at the base of the Superstition Mountains, just east of Phoenix, and named for the legend of a lost gold mine supposedly hidden somewhere in these mountains. We have two hikes here that we’d recommend.

Treasure Loop Trail

The easier of the two is the Treasure Loop Trail, a 2.4-mile loop with about 530 feet of elevation gain. It winds up and around the Green Boulder, a large, distinctive outcrop that’s one of the trail’s main landmarks, with panoramic views back across the valley along the way.

Siphon Draw Trail to the Basin

For more of a challenge, Siphon Draw Trail climbs up into a rugged canyon and ends at a slickrock chute known as the Basin — roughly a two-hour round trip, and considerably more strenuous than the Treasure Loop. The whole Superstition range has a dramatic origin story: it was built by a series of massive volcanic calderas roughly 25 million years ago, each some 10 to 12 miles across, and the mountains you see today are largely what’s left after the collapsed volcanic domes were later pushed back upward by pressure from magma underneath. The Basin is carved into that same ancient volcanic rock.

The Flatiron

We’ve never made it to the top ourselves, but experienced hikers can continue past the Basin, scrambling up to a summit called the Flatiron. Despite its name and its knife-edge look from a distance, the top is genuinely flat, and no technical climbing gear is needed — just a lot of steep scrambling and a five-hour round trip if you go all the way up and back. We once watched BASE jumpers leap off the top of it, which gives you some idea of just how flat and exposed that summit really is.