As I was going to be in Phoenix this weekend for a couple of events, I thought I would research and hike a couple of trails near the city. The first was to a beautiful desert landscape inside South Mountain Park, which I would later learn is the largest municipal park in the US, with more than 57 miles of trails. I'll settle for just a short hike with the limited time I have available. Rising early and driving several miles from my hotel to the park, I arrive at the Mormon Trail Head to find the parking log and nearby side streets full of cars. Apparently, this is a popular location. No matter, I park my rental a quarter-mile down the street and hoof it to the trail head.
The trail starts out pretty steep with some pretty noticeable elevation gain over the first mile or so, before leveling out. All along the way, I'm surrounded by the magnificent saguaro cacti. These massive desert "trees" can grow up to 70 feet tall and many examples along this trail are approaching that. Dozens of them cover the hillsides in every direction, and given the golden-red landscape, the green of these prickly skyscrapers is a welcomed contrast.
It's dry here, but that doesn't seem to deter hikers. The first part of the trail is fairly crowded and I pass group after group with a friendly hello. Even here on the outskirts of the sixth largest city in the US, something about the act of hiking inherently makes people friendly.
As I reach the top of the far ridge, the crowd starts to thin out a bit and when I finally find the well-signed turn towards Hidden Valley, I'm all alone in this desert landscape. Almost immediately after the turn, I encounter the first of three notable rock formations that make the foot path through the dry desert wash much more interesting.
Fat Man's Pass is a group of RV-sized boulders that have been polished smooth by centuries of human touch. The base seems that it might have been a single boulder at one point in time, eons past, but has since cracked into two nearly equal parts, leaving a crack for the adventurous (and thin) hiker to squeeze through. At first, I look for a passage over the top of the boulders, not recognizing this as place as the named feature, but eventually, I realize what I must do. I remove my small day pack and camera and begin the squeeze through the smooth surface of the crack. It's a snug fit, but I make it through un-scarred.
Continuing down the wash, I next encounter another group of boulders stacked in such a way as to force me to squat and crawl through a small opening, only to reach other side and have to do a little scrambling to get back down to the desert sands. I'm not sure this feature has a name, but it was an interesting site nonetheless.
After reaching the final of the three formations, there is no doubt in my mind that I now stand before The Tunnel. This is the most massive of three formations and consists of a car-sized passage between two building-sized boulders on either side, with a third large boulder (and a number of smaller ones) making up the roof of the tunnel. The tunnel is covered by this large boulder for about 50 feet with the floor a level sea of pale yellow desert sand. The stones have again been polished to a smooth sheen, presumably by humans touch them over the years. Very cool.
Making my way back to the Mormon Trail, I start the return to the parking lot, but just as near the end, there is some congestion and I soon see why. A fellow hiker has injured her ankle and is being evacuated by the Phoenix Fire Department on a wheeled rescue litter. Thinking back to my own recent Wilderness First Responder course, I'm jealous of the wheel. We had to carry our patient's litter through the snow. Ah well, I'm glad to see the she's getting the care she needs. Returning to the rental car, I see that I've hiked just shy of 4 miles on this lollipop-shaped trail. The rock formations and cacti made for a fun and visually interesting hike.
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