Soufriere Hike

I've heard that others like to read about the adventures we have. Now I believe that everything we do is an adventure of some scale...some more epic than others. This one is certainly epic and was a great experience. I'll be happy to have this adventure again with anyone who visits and is up to the challenge......

The past Friday the 12th, about a 10 Peace Corps volunteers, 2 Canadian volunteers with a visiting friend, a British volunteer from the Richmond Vale Academy group here on SVG, and 2 Vincentians from Georgetown embarked on a the quest to cross from the windward side of Georgetown to the leeward side of Richmond via the hiking trail of the volcano--La Soufriere (somewhere around 4000' above sea level). Sadly, our Taiwanese volunteer friends really wanted to come but couldn't get the spare time to join us. So if any of you are reading this--I'll hike it again with you when we have a free day. ^_^

For those that have seen maps of St. Vincent--there is no road yet that spans the north end of the island to connect the windward and leeward highways. The only way I know of without crossing directly through mountain bush or boating around is the Soufriere trail. Scott and I looked a the map afterward and we estimate our trip to probably have been 7-8 miles, but it was full of ups, downs, and twists.

Some of us spent the night over in Georgetown with fellow volunteers to make it an easier morning start and let me say that we had a delicious dinner. Steve made a great spaghetti sauce with chunks (veg friendly meat alternative) and Scott's garlic bread turned out very tasty--kudos them both! ^_^

The group met early and we got a kick-off by 8am, right on schedule. It was a bit of a walk from Georgetown to where the side road towards the trail began. We paid a couple dollars each (about $30 total) to pile in the back of a dump truck and hitch a +/- 3 mile ride up the side road through banana fields to the trail head. It was well worth the cost and saved us lots of time we needed later on.

The trail head had a nice info sign and we were surrounded with greenery. The trail was wide and well-maintained. Most of the time we had canopy cover with breaks in the foliage providing wonderful views of the surrounding forest. Bamboo grew in thick patches and its shed bark littered the floor with other leaves. The sounds of the birds and breeze danced in the air and we hiked along in a great mood. Our group split up into three groups on and off based on hiking speed preferences. We were very good (IMO) about making sure nobody was left behind or felt like 'dead weight' as well as taking occasional breaks. Overall the whole place was alive and beautiful and most of us were trying to capture as much as we could with cameras and mind's eye moments.

After awhile, the forest began to thin a bit as we could see misty fog blanketing the valleys and treetops. It gave everything a grey serenity. I really enjoyed the brightness of the day without the harsh direct sunlight. The grey mists also helped bring out the green color of the forest and the flowers. We came across what looked like old river beds of flattened rock where we had snack time and photo ops. By the way, plantain chips are mighty tasty. I also became a small hero offering some dates I picked up for the trip. While some were hanging out, I took a moment to follow some of the rock bed off the main trail and found some cool alcoves. It didn't really go anywhere that I could tell, but looked still looked neat.

The trail lead onward until the trees lessened and we were surrounded in mist and mountain shrubs. We followed a small gorge up he the side of the volcano. Here the winds were really picking up and the mists became light rains for moments at a time. From the twists in the path and mist, we had no clue how far from the top we were until we were nearly at the crater itself! At the top many chose to put on some warmer clothes with no shelter from the winds. We had lunch up there, again my jar of peanut butter (a travel food must!) came to the rescue. ^_^ Other groups coming up to the crater joined the area and there was an overall good atmosphere. It was perhaps here that most of us felt we conquered our trip. It didn't matter we still had a long way down (really long...), we were at the top of the Vincy world.

Inside the crater, there was a small pond to the side and a large rock dome covered with plants in the center. Clouds rose from the crater and joined the clouds that passed us by. From time to time, the clouds broke and we could see a gorgeous skyline surrounding the crater. In the distance we could see the north leeward town of Chateau and ship on the sea. I had heard of something called Soufriere grass, a specific variety that only grows up near the crater. Tradition is to pick a piece to carry back, but I realized than none of us knew what this grass looked like and all the grasses looked like the normal grasses elsewhere. lol--better luck next time.

We walked along the crater rim looking for the trail down the leeward side. Some of us went ahead early so we could climb down into the crater itself. On one side of the crater, people had secured large iron spikes into the rock and wrapped large rope to help descent into the crater below. It was a long way down and the small rocks were sharp, causing more than a few scratches to us on the way down. Inside the crater, everything seemed so massive and we so small. Sulfur permeated the air and we walked towards the rock dome. Of course, we had to have our victory poses and I went up the dome a bit to shot the smoking rocks. It was just after this that I had my only real downer of the whole trip. Because the sulfur smoke kept moisture on my camera, I kept wiping it with a cleaning cloth from my camera pouch. I forgot to zip the pouch shut and inadvertently lost my 3 extra camera specific batteries down into the crags of the boulders. Totally bogus. That oops means that I won't be able to take the barrage of photos I usually do until I get more batteries. Sadly, I wasn't able to shot nearly as much of the leeward trek down as I wanted to since the only battery I had left (in the camera) had died. Boo. >.<

(hint hint, if anyone feels like sending me a holiday gift, this link will take you the kind I lost and can be found at many different retailers....I wouldn't normally ask, but it sucks losing the batteries.)

Climbing up and down the crater wall took a bit out of us and we enjoyed another brief break before finding the trail down. Thankfully, Mark--the British volunteer--had done this hike before, but only from the leeward side. He identified which path we needed to take down, which certainly helped because some of us had already gone another path. It took a little bit to regroup, but had we all followed the wrong trail (there were no signs) who knows how far out of our way we might have gone.

The trail down leeward was a stark contrast to the windward trail. Most noticeably, whereas the windward trail was well-kept the leeward trail was at best a bush trail. The majority of it until under the tree cover was overgrown and the trail could barely be seen. At times, the trail thinned at points so much we had to grab patches of vines to help walk without slipping down the muddy slope. Rain came more often and took mini breaks under the tree cover. I got my first sting from a Jack Spaniard when walking through the bush. For those that don't know what a Jack Spaniard is....think big wasp. It got me on the inner side, last knuckle of my ring finger and it stung like heck! Good boy scout I was, I brought my travel 1st aid kit and a quick swab with a stick kit left it nice and clean.

The leeward trail wound down and back and forth much more than the windward side and across slopes descending into the Richmond valley. At some point, the trail merged along a 'dry', deep riverbed walking on black sand and tall earthen banks. We could see root structures and it the whole thing seemed out of some sort of Indiana Jones film, just waiting for some booby trap to spring. There was even a point in which we encountered a bat cave area--gladly we took a higher trail so that we didn't have to cross their turf and cause them any trouble. The riverbed eventually widened and opened up to the sunlight taking us into the final stretch of the trail. Oddly, there were nearly no signs as we exited the trail and it dumped us directly onto the beach with the sea in front of us.

It was about 1630-ish by this time. We were told the hike would take +/- 8 hours to complete, so that wasn't too bad given our breaks. Although we finished the main hike, we still needed to walk a bit down the beach towards the road. We had to cross a river and a couple streams and we it deeper in spots than we were expecting. I got my cell phone well (it was in my pocket) and the screen has gone screwy. I've left it open to dry since then and hopefully it will be alright. Good thing I brought my unlocked phone from home and the sim card works fine with it here. Once we got to the main road, we were supposed to walk another 45 min or so down to Chateau where some could catch van ride home. However by this time we were concerned that we wouldn't have made it back in time for the vans and a couple of us were extremely beat from the hike--it would have taken much longer than 45 min. Fortunately, I have the phone numbers of a few van drivers and arranged one of them to drive up to where we were for a rescue. ^_^

Great day...long day
Glad I did this one in a large group. It was lots of fun with only a few poopy exceptions.
Now, I'll be better prepped for the next trip. ^_^

Stay safe and happy
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn

Drum roll please.......
AND NOW---Pictures!
^_^
These are just some selected pics, but you can find nearly all of them in my public photo albums:
Album 1 of 3
Album 2 of 3
Album 3 of 3