Red peaks pierce a blue sky, the morning air is brisk and the only sound is the clump of our boots making soft, dusty prints as we head uphill into the Superstition Wilderness, a vast region of more than 65,000 hectares [250 square miles], east of Phoenix, that has some of Arizona’s best hiking.

On this sunny, late-winter morning we are in part of this wilderness, Lost Dutchman State Park. Who was the Dutchman?

Legend has it that back in the 1840s a gold mine was found in the Superstitions by Miguel Peralta and his family.

An Apache attack drove them from the rich claim, which stood abandoned until the 1870s when a “Dutchman,” Jacob Waltz, who, despite his nickname, was from Germany, found and worked the claim.

He’s said to have passed on its location just before he died, but despite many attempts its has never been found. Nevertheless, the lure of gold is powerful and people still seek the Dutchman’s lost treasure.

The only gold we’re interested in on this perfect day is the waving yellow grass that fringes Treasure Loop Trail. We’re impressed with the variety of cacti: prickly pear, cholla, barrel and a few towering, soldier-like saguaro. This giant cactus can live 200 years, grow as high as 15 metres and support as many as 50 arms.

We follow connecting trails that crisscross the mountainsides, enjoying the plant life. At high spots like Green Boulder on the Prospector’s View Trail we take in the panoramic desert, with the urban sprawl of Phoenix far in the distance.

I’m used to hiking in mountains, so you’d think desert trekking would be easier, but after two hours we’re soaked in sweat and guzzling water. There are many warnings in the park to ensure that hikers pack enough liquid.

Lost Dutchman State Park, reached by Highway 88, outside of Apache Junction, has well-marked hikes that include everything from a wheelchair-accessible Native Plant Trail to Flatiron, a rugged, five-hour trek that takes you as high as 1,500 metres [5,000 feet].

Besides the trails, in the area around Apache Junction there’s a four-hour drive that follows the original, twisting Apache Trail trading route through the Superstition Mountains. Along the way are two worthwhile stops: Goldfield Ghost Town and Tortilla Flats.

Goldfield dates from the mid-1800s and was abandoned when the gold dwindled about 1915. Restored in the 1980s, it’s now an open-air museum.

You can go underground for a mine tour, ride a narrow-gauge railway, hang out in the Bordello Museum, have a steak at the Mammoth Steakhouse and shop for everything from fudge to turquoise jewellery. You can also book a jeep tour to do some backcountry exploring.

As the road winds through a pretty canyon you come to Tortilla Flats, a row of rickety Western buildings.

The streets are full with what has become the new gold for these century-old mining centres: tourists. The rustic, cow-poke town swarms with visitors, all anxious to relive the glory days when there was still gold in them thar hills.

For more information on Arizona visit the Arizona Office of Tourism website at www.arizonaguide.com.

For more information on the Superstition Wilderness visit the Arizona State Parks website at www.azstateparks.com.