United States
Superstition Mountains
Craggy volcanic peaks where prospectors still search for a gold mine that may have never existed.
The volcanic spires of the Superstition Mountains rise from the Sonoran Desert east of Phoenix like a fortress designed by erosion and rumour. The rock is dark, fractured, and sharp-edged — nothing like the smooth red sandstone further north — and the silence between its canyons carries a weight that two centuries of treasure-hunting have done nothing to lighten.
The Superstition Mountains in Arizona are the setting for one of America's most persistent legends: the Lost Dutchman's Mine, a gold deposit reportedly found by Jacob Waltz in the 1870s and never relocated after his death. Prospectors have searched continuously for 150 years — several have died in the attempt. Peralta Trail climbs 1,345 feet to Fremont Saddle, where Weaver's Needle, the volcanic formation traditionally linked to the mine's location, appears framed at eye level. The Superstition Wilderness is managed as strict wilderness with no mechanised equipment permitted on its 160 miles of trail. Saguaro cacti, brittlebush, and jojoba line the lower approaches, giving way to juniper and chaparral as the elevation gains. The desert floor blooms with wildflowers in March before summer temperatures exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Solo
The Lost Dutchman legend gives solo hiking here a narrative edge that most mountain trails lack — every unmarked spur trail and abandoned prospect hole carries a whisper of something unfinished. The strict wilderness designation ensures the solitude matches the mythology.
Friends
Backpacking the Superstition Wilderness with a group turns the treasure legend into a shared campfire story told in the place it actually happened. Multi-day loops through volcanic terrain, with a cold beer waiting at Tortilla Flat (population six) at the trailhead, make for a weekend that gets retold.
- The Lost Dutchman Mine legend — a gold mine found by Jacob Waltz in the 1870s and never relocated after his death — has drawn prospectors continuously for 150 years, several of whom have died searching.
- Peralta Trail climbs 1,345 feet to Fremont Saddle, where Weaver's Needle — the formation traditionally associated with the mine's location — appears framed at eye level.
- The Superstition Wilderness is managed as strict wilderness — no mechanised equipment, no bikes, and no motorised vehicles on any of the 160 miles of trail.
- April and October temperature windows avoid both summer heat exceeding 100°F and winter freezes at elevation — the desert floor blooms with wildflowers in March before the heat arrives.
Sonoran-style carne asada tacos from a roadside stand in Apache Junction.
Prickly pear jelly on cornbread at a desert ranch café.
Cold beer at Tortilla Flat — a stagecoach stop with a population of six and dollar bills papering the walls.
Pedra de Lume
Cape Verde
Float in a salt lake inside an extinct volcano, crater walls rising on every side.
Vale do Paúl
Cape Verde
Sugarcane terraces spill down a volcanic crater into the greenest valley in the archipelago.
Monastery of St. Anthony
Egypt
Earth's oldest inhabited monastery, wedged into a Red Sea mountain canyon since the fourth century.
Hoang Su Phi
Vietnam
Rice terraces so vertiginous they look like topographical maps carved directly into the sky.
Lander
United States
A river vanishes underground and resurfaces a quarter-mile later in a pool of giant trout.
Craters of the Moon
United States
A lava field so alien that NASA trained Apollo astronauts on these flows for moon missions.
New Orleans
United States
Jazz spilling from doorways at 2 a.m. while beignet sugar dusts your collar.
Savannah
United States
Spanish moss dripping into squares where horse hooves echo on cobblestones after dark.