Thunder God's Gold

Today's flight will start in Scottsdale Arizona and will take us through the Superstition Mountains in search of the Lost Dutchman Gold mine. We will head up to Weavers Needle to start the search. Next, we head up the Salt River flying down low to the Theodore Roosevelt Dam fallowed by a stop at Grapevine Airport. From here we head into Indian country to see where the bloody battles of Cibecue Creek and Fort Apache were fought. After that we head North to the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert before finishing our flight in Holbrook Municipal Airport.

The flight is 280 miles with 8 stops any kind of touring airplane capable of 140mph is fine I will be in my Piaggio. There is nothing hard about this flight

Flight Plan: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/hdop4ypj8f7c86yqs8319/AFM0rrq4Ph4neMLgamb5fgI?rlkey=45jzs62ecwvi83jykkhhv877a&st=sy5atfkq&dl=0

Scenery: None needed but you can get Scottsdale here: https://flightsim.to/file/30038/scottsdale-airport-ksdl-arizona

Weather: Whatever you like.

Recommend Departure time: 1:00PM local

Useful Information for this Flight:

There are a few movies to watch if can:  Lust for Gold staring Glen Ford and Fort Apache staring Henry Fonda and John Wayne

Weavers Needle has played a significant role in the stories of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. The Needle's shadow reportedly indicates the location of a rich vein of gold, and many treasure hunters have searched for it. The hunt for gold around Weavers Needle has been pursued by hundreds (possibly thousands) of people. Weavers Needle has a large split in the side that makes it look like it has two tops, not one. This can only be viewed from the side. 

I’m sure many of you are familiar with Cibecue Creek, a tributary to the Salt River, in the White Mountains of Eastern Arizona, from which flows the beautiful Cibecue Falls. Did you know; however, these tranquil waters were host to a bloody massacre in the latter 1800s?

In the years leading to this night, following the forced exodus of many Apache and Yavapai peoples from their homelands, in what would be remembered as the March of Tears (not to be confused with the Trail of Tears)—a horrific event claiming the lives of many natives as they marched over mountains and crossed raging rivers, in the dead of winter, onto a reservation they had no interest in being (this is truly a dark stain on our State’s history—and on another day, I will write extensively on this event).

The year was 1875. The Apache and Yavapai were forced to live together on the San Carlos Reservation. The government drew no distinction between the two groups. There was no harmony between them, and problems arose predictably and often. It seemed their only common ground was their hatred for the white man, which although many white men and women opposed the injustices faced by the natives, was an understandable regard.

As result of Nochaydelklinne's death and the siege of the fort, other Apache groups decided to abandon their recently established reservations and join Geronimo and other leaders for war, or to escape to northern Mexico. The two separate engagements at Cibecue Creek and Fort Apache helped ignite another Apache war in Arizona Territory, which would end with the surrender of Geronimo at Skeleton Canyon five years later in 1886. 

Particulars:

•           Date and time: Wednesday September 25, 18:00 UTC
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Great route Josh!

Here are some photos that were taken along that route in 1982. We drove along the Apache Trail and took Route 188 north for some miles. Great tour!

Battle of Cibecue Creek
Wikipedia has a long, detailed, and fascinating account of the Battle of Cibecue Creek. It seems that this is based on original sources with lots of background and long passages written by the participants (not fully cited). The hour-by-hour accounts offer a riveting story from the European-American soldiers’ perspective. Surprisingly engaging for a Wikipedia entry! [Given the sparse citation discipline, it is hard to know exactly where all this comes from. And the entry gives no voice to the Native American participants. The limitations acknowledged, I do recommend this as a “likely true” story of the time.]