Hiking Team: Rosie Miller, Dave Miller
Hiking Date: June????20????
To celebrate our 30th??? anniversary, we spent a week at a Sandals resort near Fort Rodney, St. Lucia in the south Caribbean. Hiking the famous world heritage site Pitons was our #1 goal.
THE PITONS: The Pitons are two volcanic plugs or large lava domes located by the small town of Soufriere on the western coast. The Gros Piton is 2,530 feet high (90 feet higher than the Petit Piton). Scientists have recorded 148 plant species, 27 bird species and 8 rare tree species on Gros Piton.
THE HIKE: The van ride through the winding St. Lucia roads took 1 hour 45 minutes to travel 32 miles. Rosie got car sick. The driver stopped the van, took his machete and cut a coconut from a tree in the rain forest. He made Rosie drink the juice and she immediately got better. Good native medicine. The small town of Soufriere was quaint and hundreds of grade school children were cute wearing their Catholic uniforms. A small village was at the base of the Pitons. We waved and spoke to several families with cute small children with big smiles. Our group consisted of three native guides and 12 hikers.
The strenuous trail up Gros Piton began at sea level and climbed all 2,500 feet. Hiking up the mountain side was very tough, steep and rocky going up. Half way up the rocks turned to a dirt trail. Hiking through the trail we were surrounded by rain forest conditions and 90 degree temperature. I carried a backpack with water and cliff bars. A large tarantula scampered across the trail in front of us. At the summit the visibility was breathtaking. You could look east and see the island of Barbados. It was a very treacherous and challenging decent along the trail but worth every ache and pain. The whirlpool, the swimming pool and a few drinks back at the resort restored us.