So I found this trail at South Mountain called Mormon Trail. It starts right off Baseline at 24th and Valley View at 1,300 feet. At the high point, 2,100 feet, it connects with Mormon Loop which then connects with the National Trail. From that point there are a few different options of things to see. I thought we were going to see them all but I was wrong. I also thought we were only going to hike 2 miles round trip, it ended up being closer to 4.5-5 miles.
We started our hike a little late in the day. Here in the desert the heat peaks after 5PM, a lot later than where I grew up in SoCal. It was a little on the warm side hiking up and Natalie didn't have her hiking face on that day, until of course we got to Natural Tunnel. When we got to the top of Mormon Trail we took the wrong way and took the Northeast Mormon Loop Trail. About ten minutes later I saw this guy hiking and asked if I'm going the right way. He shook his head and pointed. At first I thought he was deaf. Then he gave me instructions on where to go and said my best bet was to go to Natural Tunnel and avoid all the other sites. So we went back to the trail fork and down the other side of Mormon Loop to the National Trail. It didn't take me long to realize that we were going the wrong way again though when we started going up hill, probably towards Fat Man's Pass.
At this point Adri was falling asleep on me and kept telling me she was tired (it's so tiring being carried up a mountain). So we turned around and at another one of the splits I told Natalie to wait in the shade while I take a quick walk. A couple minutes later I found the sign for Hidden Valley. Two hundred feet past the sign I found Natural Tunnel. I ran back and got Natalie and Adri. Natalie still had her grumpy face on but once she saw Natural Tunnel she lost it and Adri forgot that she was tired.
We hung out here for about hour and had lunch, took pictures, and did some rock climbing with Adri. Yes, you heard right, Adri did some rock climbing. Natalie was nervous the whole time. She still hasn't learned that I'm a professional and my kid will not get hurt under my care. I've learned how to climb rocks really good with this kid.
After some rock climbing we decided to head down the mountain. I wasn't in a rush until disaster struck. Natalie had decided not to bring a spare diaper for Adri, she left it in the car. I guess it was too heavy? Well just as we started hiking down the mountain I noticed Adri's diaper was completely soaked. Not only was her diaper soaked but it had gotten my shirt wet. I had to take off my shirt, wrap it around Adri, and carry the kid down wet. To make matters worse she fell asleep five minutes later. So I couldn't stop, couldn't move her to shift the weight on my back, I just had to run down the mountain with a wet sleeping toddler in my arms. On the bright side, at least it's a dry heat and it was evaporating. I could only imagine how disgusting this situation would be in South Florida weather.
Two years ago I never would have imagined I could carry this kid up a mountain like this (I had a lumbar fusion L5-S1 in 2004). I remember about two years ago when she weighed half as much just carrying her to the park in flat South Florida and my back cramping up really bad on the way back. And of course, I didn't take the stroller. Lately I've been carrying the kid all over the place up and down hills and it doesn't even phase me. I think there's a few things to factor in but I think a huge part of it is my home made ginger juice I've been drinking daily now for three weeks. Ever since I started drinking that stuff I've been really relaxed.
Downtown Phoenix
This is the Natural Tunnel
A little harder to get up there with Adri than it looks. We actually got up there from climbing up on the other side of the tunnel then climbing over rocks to get back this way. To get down I stood on the rock on the left and Natalie held her arms as she slid down the rock to me. She enjoyed it.
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