South Mountain is one of my favorite places to hike in Phoenix. Just south of Downtown Phoenix, it is a short drive from most places and offers amazing views of the city. I would consider the Mormon Trail a moderate to difficult trail because of the elevation and uneven trail surface.
The trail to Fat Man’s pass is one of my favorites, and its even better with the Hidden Valley Tunnel. The beginning of the trail is all up hill, but it levels off at the top of the mountain which leads to a nice, peaceful hike.
I will walk you through the hike below, but first, What is Fat Man’s Pass and Hidden Valley Tunnel?
Fat Man’s Pass is a popular hiking destination among many visitors. It is a crevice between two giant rocks where hikers can try and squeeze to get through it. Don’t worry if you cant fit, you can hike around the rock to continue the hike.
Hidden Valley Tunnel is a tunnel with a much wider opening that you can walk through. It exists because of a giant rock that sits on top of two others, creating this cool passage.
I highly recommend taking the trail to the Hidden Valley Tunnel first, then looping around to Fat Man’s Pass. This ensures that you will be climbing up the rock faces instead of sliding down them, but you can always do this loop in reverse.
To Begin,
Park at the Mormon Trail head. This is the closest trail head to the loop. The parking lot features a water fountain but no bathrooms. The parking lot only has about 30 parking spots, but you can park on some of the nearby side streets if it is full.
The hike up the mountain is quite rocky and uneven, but I find that there are plenty of places to step that make the hike feel safe. When compared to Camelback Mountain, this hike is pretty mellow. On the hike up there are plenty of lookouts to view the city and take breaks. There are not many shaded areas, so I recommend coming prepared with hats and water!
Once at the top you will come across an intersecting trail for Javelina Canyon–go straight and follow Mormon Trail. This section of the trail is pretty flat and dusty. The next intersection you come across will be the the intersection towards Fat Man’s Pass and Hidden Valley Tunnel. Again, I always prefer to go left to Hidden Valley Tunnel and finish with Fat Man’s Pass, but you can definitely do the latter.
Once you turn onto the loop trail at Hidden valley or Fat Man’s Pass, the trail is pretty straight forward and eventually you will end up at the other. Then you just have to turn back on to Mormon Trail and head back down the mountain.
I used Mapmyrun during this hike and these were my stats from the hike; all my rests included.
*Note I ran down most of the mountain because I found the rock placements were perfectly spaced and fun!
