The Superstitions
Greetings travelers!
Coincidence, fate, divine intervention or just blind luck? I’ll never know but we get lucky a lot and not all of it is due to prior planning.
We had moved from Ehrenberg to the flat boondocking available on Plomosa Road in Quartzsite to hang out with the Escapees Boomers group. This is a bunch of folks who get together to just have fun and camp. We like them and it was fun (check out the post on them at the Chronicle) While there E met one of the ladies and her husband at the big Escapees Happy Hour who told her of a new campground in Apache Junction (where we needed to be for a warranty appointment). The story was that this guy was just developing the campground but it was not officially open, yet he was letting folks stay there as he opened sites up. Well, E called him and he was happy to let us come stay and flexible enough to understand our needs for the warranty appointment. This was all I knew about it until we went rolling in a week later.
Karl led us up the old Apache Trail to the unincorporated old town of Goldfield. If you are not familiar with this area, imagine driving east on this historic road as the rugged and mystical Superstition Mountains rise to fill your windshield. The west face of the mountains are a study in contrasts from The Anvil to the spires atop this rugged hunk of wild rock. The Superstitions are mostly part of a National Wilderness Area located within the Tonto National Forest.
We arrived at the Mammoth Mine Rock Shop entrance and turned left to pull into the newly graded red dirt campground. E had called the owner, Josh, and he met us out front where we picked our spot. The spaces are big enough that we could put two of Bebop side by side with room in between. The red dirt has been rained on and packed nicely to provide a stable parking pad for our 18k pounds. The ease of access is great. We get hooked up and the power comes on and we are the first to register any draw from the brand new power meter.
Josh is an unassuming lanky cowboy, quick with a smile and friendly. He was raised here on the Mammoth Mine property with his brother Jesse by father Ron and mother Jayne. All of this I learned over the next couple of days. I had no idea who they were until I was talking rocks with another of the folks in the park.
You see, if you know about the Superstition Mountains, you have probably heard of the Lost Dutchman mine, The Soldier Boy mine or even the Peralta mines. Look it up online and refamiliarize yourself with the history here. In a nutshell an old timey German named Jacob Waltz supposedly had a very rich Gold mine in the mountains here which he killed people for over the years. He left a trail of lies and deceit in stories of where the mine lay. People have been searching for this gold mine and other storied mines since he died. There are mysterious disappearances and deaths that have occurred, related to the mine search since the 1800’s.
I was enamored with the search in my youth but passed on it in my adult years for other interests. The search for this mine has been many a persons obsession and also their demise. People have gone broke looking for the lost gold in these mountains, they have killed each other and themselves over this mine which “has never been found”. All of the searchers “know exactly where it is” but none have given solid proof. Another part of the mythos of the mine is that the local Natives (Pima and Apache) protect the mine and kill or deter anyone who gets close to finding it or that the mountain itself is haunted and protects the mine. You can find any number of fantastic stories, both “historic” and pure fiction surrounding the legend of The Lost Dutchman and his mine and other mines that dot the eastern side of the Superstition range.
Remember, I said I casually flirted with the idea of the Dutchman mine in the past. I had read books and actually met a “Dutch hunter” as a kid when Dad worked with a guy who was an avid hunter. I knew the names of some of the more famous hunters and one of them was a guy named Ron Feldman. Ron had started hunting for the mine in 1966 and had actually bought land in Apache Junction to be able to live there and hunt the mines from there. It had been years since I actively thought about all that history until the day we pulled into the Mammoth Mine Campground.
I had never heard Josh’s last name until the camp host said it. Here was the Feldman family in person. Down-to-earth cowboys, business owners and very personable guys. All three are the epitome of old west style and attitude. I grew up amongst old cowboys and the western way of living and these three men remind me of that. Not the “west coast style” but honest, hard working men. They own multiple businesses surrounding the original OK Corral horse guide service. Ron has written numerous books about the life here and his hunt for the Dutchman with eldest son Jesse following along as a writer and fact finder, and Josh with his own business in running the RV park and packing/guidework for the guide service.
And, of course, the Feldman’s know where the Lost Dutchman Mine is… They are experts, live and work on top of the famous Mammoth Mine here in old Goldfield, and foray into the mountains on horse and foot throughout the year. I imagine there are not many places they have not ventured to and seen within this mountain range of mystery and wonder that have drawn so very many men and a few women to them.
My hat is off to Ron Feldman, a man who left home early in life to search for and realize his dreams and chosen way of life. Talking to him in his rock shop he is a very easy talking man with an infinite knowledge of his rocks, horses and the local lore (he should be, he’s part of all of it). I hope to return to this RV park often as it “feels right” to be here.
If you are in the area during the winter (like any smart man, he leaves the heat of the valley in the summer), do stop by and say howdy to Ron, check out his rock shop and if you’re looking for a place to stay with your RV, give Josh a call.
BFD
