Day 22 - Superstition Wilderness

I was back on the Hieroglyphic Trail by 8:00 am in an attempt to beat the heat. The hike was shorter than I expected and I was treated to beautiful views of the surrounding area as well as being able to study the abundant petroglyphs that the trail is named for (it was corrected from hieroglyphs, but they never changed the name). I stayed there for awhile enjoying the shade, soon more people came along and both groups of people I spoke to were Albertan! I was just working my way back down the rocks when I heard some people that had just arrived discussing Luna “Oh, look at the dog! She’s so cute! Just the same colouring as Koda”. Self-conscious as I could see all three of them watching us, I slid down the rocks and helped Luna off of them, then continued on. Our path back led us past these three women and they asked to pet Luna, we ended up talking for quite awhile. I found out that they were from Edmonton and that their Shiba Inu had recently passed away, this dog looked a fair bit like Luna, so they just loved her. They were absolutely lovely people and ended up inviting Luna and I to dinner; happy to be in the company of such nice people, I accepted. 

After returning to the vehicle around 10:30 am, Luna and I headed to the Wave Cave, well, we tried to. We started down the path to the cave, but did not know that we had to go through the fence and up a smaller path. After perhaps 1 1/2 hours, not certain if we were even in the right area, we turned back, too hot to continue. Following the trail on our way back, I must have missed where the path forks off to a less obvious trail, although I am quite certain it was where Luna started to go down, knowing that was where we came from. I found myself in a different parking lot and had to follow the road back about a mile to find my car. It was just after 1:00 pm by then and we were exhausted from the heat, which was around 28 celsius. 

I began my search for a campsite, first stopping at the KOA in Apache Junction as that was what was easiest to find. The woman I spoke to at KOA was extremely rude and I was quite okay with it when she told me that I was not permitted to sleep in my vehicle there. She acted like it was the most ridiculous question she’d ever heard when I asked her if there was any campsites nearby (no other ones were advertised and my phone wasn’t coming up with anything), when I continued to look at her expectantly, undaunted by her intimidation tactics, she came up with Lost Dutchman State Park, 15 minutes away. Lost Dutchman State Park was on my list to visit and it is gorgeous. All of the staff I have spoken to here are so kind and enthusiastic, there are great facilities (including four showers that are free!), areas with shade, incredible views, very dog friendly and it is cheap to stay here in comparison to the prices everywhere else ($20, which includes the state park fee), it is definitely my favourite campsite yet. If we could handle the heat we would stay here longer.

We sat in the shade for a couple of hours, I read, Luna napped. We headed back to Gold Canyon for dinner at 4:00 pm. I had a wonderful evening getting to know this incredibly kind family. The daughter, Kaylee, turned out to be the same age as I and we found many things to talk about, she even gave me a journal and a book that she had gotten for me after the hike that day! Kaylee’s grandma and grandpa came over as well, her mom, Trudy, who had invited me, made an excellent dinner and Kaylee’s dad was there too, only her sister who I had met on the trail as well was not present. We had a fire after dinner, Luna was a little nervous of the flames and came and lay on my lap for comfort, but was much more comfortable with it than she has been in the past. I didn’t get back to camp until a little after 9:00 pm and I immediately got settled for the night, planning an early morning for the following day. 

So many petroglyphs!

The man from Calgary that I chatted with took our photo for me. Luna was nervous about being held at the edge of some rocks.

The petroglyphs with the view from where we came from.

Does the left-middle not look a bit like a face to you? Also, the wave cave is visible in this photo, I thought it was the cave, but I was determined to stay on the main trail and that such a cool, popular spot would be well-marked, so kept on the main trail hoping it would lead to it eventually or that I was mistaken in it being the cave. The cave is close to the middle on the right side of this photo.