Superstition Wilderness – Arizona

The History of the Superstition Wilderness

The Superstition Wilderness is a federally protected wilderness area within Tonto National Forest, covering roughly 160,000 acres of rugged country east of Phoenix. It is named for the Superstition Mountains that anchor it, a range of sharp ridgelines, box canyons, and strange volcanic rock that rises straight up out of the Sonoran Desert. Weaver’s Needle, a tall spire of rock near the center of the range, is the landmark you orient by and the feature most tied to the legends that surround the place. You can see these mountains from the edge of the city, and yet once you walk into them they feel genuinely wild.

A Land of Legends

Long before it was a designated wilderness, this range carried a reputation. The name itself reflects the unease people have always felt here, and the mountains became closely tied to the legend of the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine. The short version is that a German immigrant named Jacob Waltz, the Dutchman, was said to have found a rich gold mine somewhere in these mountains in the 1800s and kept its location secret until his death in 1891. People have searched ever since, and the mine is usually said to lie somewhere near Weaver’s Needle. More than thirty people have died over the years searching this country, lost or hurt in terrain that does not forgive mistakes.

The Mine That May Never Have Existed

Here is the part that makes the legend even stranger. Geologists point out that the Superstitions are volcanic in origin, which is not the kind of rock that holds the sort of gold the Dutchman was said to have found. By that reasoning, the mine may never have existed at all. People keep searching anyway, drawn by the same mystery that has pulled treasure hunters into these canyons for more than a century. Whether or not there was ever gold, the real draw of the Superstition Wilderness is the country itself, vast and quiet and beautiful in a hard way.

Know Before You Go

• Region: Southwest United States
• Location: Tonto National Forest, east of Apache Junction, central Arizona
• Common Trailhead: First Water Trailhead, off the Apache Trail (State Route 88)
• Coordinates: 33.4583, -111.4012
• Costs: No fee for most wilderness trailheads; some access points and nearby Lost Dutchman State Park charge a day use fee. Check the Tonto National Forest site before you go.
• Schedule: Open year-round. Fall, winter, and spring are the only reasonable seasons. Summer is dangerously hot.
• Attraction Type: Federally Designated Wilderness (Tonto National Forest)
• Activities: Hiking, backpacking, horseback riding, photography, wildlife viewing, the First Water and Peralta trails, routes toward Weaver’s Needle
• Notes:
  • This is true wilderness, around 160,000 acres of rugged, broken country. Trails can be faint, unmarked, and easy to lose. Carry a map, know how to navigate, and do not rely on cell signal.
  • People have died out here, both treasure hunters and ordinary hikers. Box canyons and similar-looking terrain make it easy to get disoriented.
  • Carry far more water than you think you need, a gallon per person per day is a reasonable starting point in the heat.
  • Summer temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees and storms can flood washes fast. Hike the cooler months and watch the sky.
  • Lost Dutchman State Park at the western edge makes the easiest and most comfortable base camp for trips into the wilderness.
• Additional Resources: Tonto National Forest Official Site

My Visit

The first time I ever set foot in the Superstitions was also my first hike anywhere in Arizona. I had just moved west and met up with a couple of friends to hike the First Water Trail toward Boulder Creek. Arizona had just gotten record rainfall that week, and it was still coming down with hard wind when we started, so we had the place almost to ourselves. The mountains were glowing a green I had never seen before and have rarely seen since, the desert soaking up every bit of that rare water.

Boulder Creek, normally a quiet thing, had swollen into a raging creek. We found a place to cross that was only knee deep, stepped into the cold fast water, and got a little disoriented right in the middle where the moving water and the light-colored rocks played tricks on the eyes. On the far side we climbed toward a set of waterfalls that only run after a storm like that, and stopped for a long lunch looking back down the canyon. It was the kind of day that hooks you on a place for good, and it is a big part of why I kept coming back to these mountains for years afterward.

I came back years later to write about the range and its legend in the Superstition Wilderness and the Lost Dutchman.

Photos From My Trip

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