Fat Man Revisited

On Saturday, the kids and I went back to South Mountain to finish our hike to Fat Man's Pass. The weather was perfect! This was the hike that we failed to complete back in May because it was just too hot.

We hiked up from the bottom again. I mapped it after we got home, and it was about 4 miles round-trip. Not too gueling, but enough to work up a little sweat.


There are great views of the city the whole way up (although Robbie was disappointed that I forgot the binoculars). Once you get to the top, the trail winds back into an area called "Hidden Valley" and there are no traces of the city at all.

This is on top of Fat Man's Pass - really cool giant boulders.


...and this is why it's called Fat Man's Pass. There's a foot-wide opening where you can squeeze between the two boulders and continue on the trail.


After squeezing though, we got to explore under the boulders. It was a great place to cool off, with the breeze, the shade, and the nice cool rocks.


Checking out the boulders on the other side.


Looking down at the kids inside the pass:

We climbed up on top of the rocks and decided to hang out for a while before hiking back down. It would've been a great place for a picnic, but I didn't plan for one. We met this little guy up there! Isn't he cute? We also met several of his friends.

The chipmunks weren't too scared of people; I'm sure they've had plenty of snacks from hikers. We didn't have anything to offer, but he still approached us. He sniffed my hand and scurried away, so Erin patiently put her hand out the same way... and he took a little nibble of her thumb! She thought it was hilarious.

Of course, Robbie needed to do it, too. And our little friend happily obliged and nibbled his finger. It surprised him, so he sort of jumped & said "ouch!" and immediately started laughing his head off. He was thrilled!

Mother of the Year for exposing the kids to rabies or whatever ailments chipmunks may carry! But these kids love animals, so this made their day. I have to say I was pretty happy about it, too - I have a little thing for squirrels & chipmunks.

Then we headed back down the mountain.