Friday,
February 8
After
a day of rest, we were ready for more hiking in Dominica. We had
planned another guided hike with Ken to the top of Morne Diablotin
which is the highest peak in Dominica. It took about 30 minutes to
get to the start of the hike, driving through orange and grapefruit
groves. As soon as we got out of the van to begin the hike, it
started to rain, and unfortunately, the rain didn't stop all day.
The hike was about 3 miles up to the top which basically went
straight up; tons of log steps for the first mile and a half, and
lots of mud puddles. Our hiking boots were completely covered in mud
after the first 30 minutes of the hike. It was really interesting to
see the vegetation change as we moved up the mountain. The top half
of the mountain contained shorter bushes, rather than trees, with
thick dense leaves. For the last half of the hike, we were climbing
straight up the vines of the trees/bushes and the rock of the
mountain. When we finally arrived at the top, we found ourselves
within a cloud and surrounded by clouds. The rain stopped just long
enough for a picture, but there was absolutely no visibility since it
was such a cloudy day. After waiting for a while in hopes that the
sun may come out (without any luck), we headed back down the
mountain, making it back to the van much faster than we had on the
way up. Gene and I agree that this was probably the muddiest hike
we've ever done, with mud practically filling our shoes, socks, and
all over our legs and shorts. We were happy to be back on the boat
later that day to jump in the ocean and clean off all the mud.
Start of the trail
View from the top (in a cloud)
Hiking down
Showing off our mud-covered shoes / legs
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