Lost Dutchman State Park — Attraction in Four Corners States

A great park with nice trails. This park is perfect for people who want to start with something easy and gradually work up to a challenging hike. The park has several nice trail heads with parking. It also has several options for camping including hook ups. There are day hike access passes and year round as well. Facilities are good with restrooms spread across the different areas. Maps are available with good advice from the ranger station with you enter the park.

One of the best things about this park is its accessibility to the metro Valley area. On the outskirts of Apache Junction in the east valley, this state park is one of the closest opportunities for you to view natural Arizona dessert scenery and still sleep in your Valley hotel (or your home).

That said, what I love most about this park, and its main attraction is not the camping (though, that is very good for Arizona), but it's great hiking trails. As such, I list my recommendations below for the park's best hikes, in my opinion.

EASY: The simplest and easiest hikes to start with here are Treasure Loop and Jacob's Trail. Treasure Loop has some elevation but is relatively short (3 miles) and rewarding (nice views and scenery). Jacob's Trail is flatter and a bit longer with a nice walking range across the face of the park.

MODERATE: When you've progressed to something more considerate, try Siphon Draw trail to the basin. At 3.9 miles, it has 1000 ft elevation and is a worthy hike for a family afternoon. Don't take it lightly, being plenty of water and take your time. Please note that March through September will have plenty of opportunity (as all Arizona trails do) to encounter rattlesnakes sunning themselves on the trails. Be aware and stay clear.

ADVANCED: When you are in very good shape and are ready for an intermediate to advanced level challenge, do the Flatiron ascent via Siphon Draw trail. You basically do the Siphon Draw trail mentioned above, and simply keep going the remaining mile to the top of the plateau! It sounds amazing- and it is!

Flatiron hike via Siphon Draw is just under 6 miles round trip with a whooping 2900ft elevation, wherein the last mile is approximately 2/3 of the entire hike's climb! That is 1900 ft gain in one mile. In fact, this trail is classified as Class 3 by rock climber scale. That means there is a good amount scrambling across rocks and some pulling yourself up in a few places. It's a work out. You shouldn't be scared if you are in strong shape, but bring a LOT of water and give yourself 6 hours. Attempting this hike with its steep incline in the last 1/3 of the ascent is not for folks who have not already prepared for it.

If you are a hiker, Flatiron Trail via Siphon Draw should be on your list as one of the top 5 hikes in the entire state. Stunningly beautiful, physically challenging and probably 2000-3500 calorie burn depending on your body weight. When you are done this, you've accomplished something and you should feel good about it.

For all the reasons I've listed above, Lost Dutchman State Park is a winner in my books. If you hike, it should be your first stop...

Me & wifey came here on our anniversary to watch the sunrise which was amazing!...And afterwards......well, it turned out to be almost a nightmare for the simple fact that I wore the wrong shoes twisted my ankle and almost lost my phone... my wife warned me but I did not listen, we chose a simple trail and started the hike. There was a spot off the trial that I wanted to check out, so I found a wash and went up that wash to the area. I stayed up there exploring to my hearts content as I could see my wife below. As I was heading back down I felt my pocket in my sweats and noticed my phone was gone and started panicking so I yelled down to my wife to call my phone because I know I had lost it in the bushes somewhere and had to backtrack my steps as I listened out to hear the ring as my wife was calling my phone from below. There were so much vegetation that had grown in that area it seemed impossible to find my phone so I had to calm myself down, and so I prayed to God to help me find my phone. All of the sudden after backtracking and praying I turned around and my phone was lying right there behind me about 5ft away. I was so happy I went over to pick it up and it rang??...Well I definitely wanted to get out of there so I started jumping and leaping out of the bush from rock to rock because it's hard to see through the vegetation because I could not find the wash I came up. All of the sudden as I was getting closer to reaching my wife about 50 yards away I stepped on loose rocks and my left ankle twisted and I slid down about 2ft that way, and immediately I felt the pain and inflammation in my ankle as I came to a halt. Now I'm limping down in a lot of pain but finally I reached my wife. I went to get my ankle checked and found out the ligament popped out but it did not come around my ankle bone so there was no need for surgery, a little over a month later it was better thank God. I would tell anyone to be very careful going off the trail those mountains can be...

We camp at many of AZ state parks, approximately one per month. Lost Dutchman is one of our favorites. However, at this time, I cannot recommend camping here. I'm not opposed to port-a-potties, but they must be pumped regularly for the amount of pressure they receive. We arrived on Thursday (3/27), three potties in main bathhouse area were all full, up to the top, no water visible, a literal poo tower. We thought, ok, they'll pump them on Friday in anticipation of the weekend. Nope, never pumped out. By Sunday afternoon the tower was literally 3" from the seat, not exaggerating. We tried the other bathhouse area potties (also a set of 3) where the showers are closed. They were ok on Friday night, but by mid-morning Saturday, already above the waterline and in serious need of staff/host cleaning. This demonstrates how much pressure they get and the need for more frequent pumping. While we were there (4 nights) hosts only "cleaned" once a day (at the end of the day) according to the chart on the doors. This is not enough. We have an RV, but what are tent/rooftop campers supposed to do? In a prior negative review from about a month ago regarding toilets, the park service defended the improvements and need for port-a-potties, but did not address the number of potties (not enough for 130+ sites) or infrequent pumping. So they are aware of the problem but choosing to do nothing about it. Finally, this all feels worse because of the recent substantial rate hikes for camping and entry fees. Not opposed to a price increase to cover higher costs and park improvements, but the park service needs to do better here. This is a fail. I will be sharing my thoughts including a call to action with the AZ state parks service to try to facilitate change in addition to posting...