Driving through a resort and then up through a middle class neighborhood we questioned the map directions.  Is this really the right place to go hiking?  My college friend, Jeff suggested South Mountain Park and the National Trail just south of Phoenix.  This park is the largest municipal park in the United States complete with more than 58 miles of trails for hiking, running, biking and horse back riding. As with most hikes, we met early to beat the heat and at 7 am we were still not the first into the parking area. Soon after lacing up our boots, Jeff met us at the trail head and laid out our course, the National Trail.  We started off the trail near  abandoned CCC buildings from the 1930s.  This trail in its entirety is 14 miles one way but we opted for a 7 mileloop instead that included part of the Mormon Trail, with a detour through Fat Man’s Pass and Narrow Valley.  As we hiked, Jeff steered us to the little gems.  At Fat Man’s Pass, we had to pull off our packs to squeeze through.  Apparently a while a go, someone was crawling around and slipped down into the crevice of Fat Man’s Pass and was lodged in so tight that they needed to be rescued.  It was a tight squeeze for sure and there is only one way you can face to pass through, otherwise the body is contoured into a shape it isn’t meant to be in.  Further down the trail, we did a little bouldering through a group of rocks where we met a very friendly chipmunk who allowed me to photograph and pet it as it climbed onto my knee for a treat of pieces of granola bars. At Narrow Valley we stopped for nice cool break in the shade of the valley and came across a Chuckwalla lizard.  Characterized by it’s black head and orange tail, it started to bob it’s head  up and down almost as if he was doing pushups.  Apparently the orange tail variety are only found in the south mountains of Phoenix.  Otherwise they have grey to cream colored tails.  There were a couple of others in the area but weren’t colored so brightly and were probably females.  I soon became totally lost and was so grateful for our local and informative tour guide, Jeff.  I met Jeff while studying at Moscow, Idaho and we’ve kept in touch on and off over the years.  About four years ago he helped me purchase my car by dropping off the money and picking up the title and keys, storing for a week before I could fly down and pick it up. Then we had diner with him as he made his way from Alaska back to his home in the Phoenix area.  He asked about the wildlife we’ve seen and apart from the wild burros, chipmunks and the plethora of birds I had yet to see javalinas, rattlesnake or scorpions.  All three on my list to photograph, from a very safe distance of course.   By 10 we had completely the loop just as it started to warm up. A wonderful morning that couldn’t have been done without a local.