Massacre Grounds Hike

This is the second time we went on this hike. The first time, about two weeks ago, we had a slight technical error with my camera - I forgot to put a media card in it, so we took the hike with the camera equipment, but was unable to take any pictures.

The history behind Massacre Grounds is that the Peralta Family was mining gold in the area and their burro train was moving the gold down into Mexico. All this land at the time was land of Mexico, but that was about to change. Once the Gadsen Purchase was signed, this land would then become part of the United States. They were trying to move as much gold out of here as possible before that land deal went through. Back in that valley along the trail somewhere, the Apaches attacked and killed almost all of the miners.

One account has the two surviving miners, one of which was from the Peralta family eventually making their way back to Mexico. Through a twist of fate, the Peralta miner met a Dutchman named Jacob Walz. Walz asked Peralta to take him to the mine. Peralta agreed and they started back up here.

After getting to the location of the mine, a short time later, Peralta died mysteriously. Some say Waltz killed him after getting the location of the mine - some say someone else killed Peralta. We will never know the real truth.

Fast forward in time. Jacob Waltz eventually died and the mine location, which became the legend of the Lost Dutchman Mine, has never been found. Legend has it that the entrance to the Lost Dutchman Mine lies in the shadow of Weaver's Needle. From the Massacre Grounds Trail, you can see the the tip of Weaver's Needle, so the mine could be in that area. We do not know which way the burro train was heading when they were attacked. were they coming from the direction of Weaver's Needle? The pieces of the two stories fit together and are what makes this whole story so intriguing.

To validate this story, a couple of miners found $15,000.00 worth of gold in a pile in this area back in the early 1900s. It could have been gold the Apaches dumped from one of the saddlebags. At today's gold prices of $1,000.00 per ounce, can you imagine what that $15,000.00 pile of gold is worth today?

Today, the weather was just too good to pass up. It was sunny, of course, and in the low 80s, so we decided to try it again - this time with a media card installed.

To get to the trail head, take Arizona Highway 88 east out of Apache Junction. After you go past the turnoff for the Lost Dutchman State Park, look for the First Water Trail head sign which is the next road to the right.

Turn right at the sign onto the gravel road. Now you may think this road is bad in terms of the roughness of the surface and washouts requiring one to just move along at a snail's pace in places, but it will seem like an interstate compared to the road leading back to the trail head. After turning onto the First Water Trail head Road, proceed for about a mile.

Turn right onto the only road you will see up to that point. There are some turnoffs where people park their cars to take other trails, but these are not roads. Once you make that right, the road ceases to be a road and is classified more as a trail.

I put the transmission selector in "1" and just let the pickup crawl along and at times that crawl is even too fast. Take your time getting back to the trail head and you will be rewarded with some of the most gorgeous scenery in the area. Once at the trail head, park in the parking area and proceed through the opening in the fence and onto the trail. Be sure to have drinking water with you.

As we started out on the trial, in the not-to-far distance, we saw a side of the Superstition Mountains we had not seen before. In the foreground we came face-to-face with a formidable rock spire. To the left is a high ridge of mountains and to the right the landscape gently drops off into a valley. The trail takes you up and around the left side of the rock spire and down the other side across a dry wash. From there, the trail climbs up out of the wash and turns left, following alongside another wash, which may or may not have water in it. The first time we went on the hike, it was after a rain and it had a small amount of flowing water in it.

From here the trail goes up and down along the way towards Massacre Grounds, but there isn't any great rise of fall in elevation. The trail is generally good, sandy in some spots and rocky in others until you come to the slickrock.

This gets alittle tricky getting up and over the slickrock. Sue attempted it, but decided not to go any further after she was about halfway up. She told me to go ahead and she would stay there.

I worked my way up and over the small mountain, along a ridge, down into a small valley and was starting up another rise when I met a couple on the trail coming back down.

I asked them how far it was ahead to the grounds and he said about 15 minutes to the waterfall. Then I ask them if they had seen the massacre grounds and the women told me she had read in her guidebook that the actual grounds are not marked and that they are somewhere in the valley over that next rise. Then I ask about the waterfall and she said it was about like a stream of water coming out of garden hose.

With that information, I decided to follow them back down the trail and hook back up with Sue.

Although it was somewhat disappointing that the actual grounds where the massacre happened isn't marked, the scenery and blooming wildflowers more than make up for the minor disappointment. If you have about two-hours of time and want to take a very rewarding hike, consider taking the Massacre Ground Trail hike - you won't be disappointed.