Trail? Maybe a Goat Path
14 April 2015 | Portsmouth, Dominica
Lynn
I love hiking, and I enjoy a challenge. When I read in the "Waitukubuli National Trail" guide book that Segment 9 was considered "Advanced" and for "experienced and trained hikers" I KNEW that I wanted to do it. The Segment is listed as having a distance of 10 km, and a projected duration of 8 hrs. The road in is long and rough, and it is not the most accessible area of Dominica. The book also states "The relatively easy start gives no warning of the onslaught to come. From the shelter the trail drops down precipitous terrain. Roots, twigs, trees and stones become necessary hand and foot hold. This is the start of an adrenaline inducing roller coaster ordeal that lasts for hours on end."
I enlisted Martin, of "Providence", to coordinate transportation...and I encouraged him to do it with me. We also got Steve of "Turning Points" to come along, too, as he was keen to test his mettle as well. We got the van to a certain point, then walked the last 1 km into the trail head. Joe took the van back out (he was the smart one).
It really did start out very innocently. The first 3-odd km were on farm feeder road, but it did end up bringing us up about 300m. It was lovely, with active fields surrounding us in a gorgeous valley. Then it all changed drastically.
The book may have downplayed just how much scrambling and climbing there really was. The picture above is not just a nice view, that was a PART OF THE TRAIL. We had just climbed down that. There were areas where I could have sworn somebody threw some paint on a tree in the hopes that enough people walking through would actually turn it into a trail. We would climb down, ford a stream or river, then plunge upwards again. At the top, it would be straight down again. There was no time to let concentration lapse, as this was not a place where one would want to get an injury, as getting help would be very difficult, and a long time coming.
We would stop briefly to top up our water bottles in the rivers (man, that is soooo good, and you just don't get better water), then keep going. The distance estimate was really out to lunch, and the map in the guide book not particularly accurate (it said 4 river crossings when we had done about 8 already). We figured the rest stop at the approximately halfway point was "just up there", and it wasn't.
The point that made Steve and I laugh was when we were hiking on a relatively flat bit, and I had turned to say something to him. I turned to be brought up short at a 5m high rock wall. "Oh Fuck" just came out of my mouth. Yes, we had to climb the rock wall, looking for hand and foot holds.
We made it to the halfway rest area in about 3.5 hours, at a distance of 10km in (umm, wasn't that supposed to be the WHOLE distance?). At this time, we could make a decision. There was a farm feeder road out, to who knew where, exactly, and distance unknown, or continue for another 10km on tough trail, and get more physically and mentally fatigued. It wasn't a difficult choice to say enough was enough, and we started walking out. I could have toughed it out, we all could have, but to what end? It would have turned into an ordeal, and the fun factor would have been long gone. The trail probably would have been a little easier, but it wasn't worth it to us to find out at that time.
So we started walking out. We had some fresh from the tree guava, wild raspberries from the side of the road, and easy footing. About 3.5 km into the road, we heard a vehicle coming out of a side road, and Glory Be! a farmer was heading out, and would happily give us a ride to the main road. Calling Joe to pick us up from up there was not an option, and there was no cell coverage that deep into the interior. We got a ride for another 10km or so to the main road on the west coast. We had solid cell coverage about 4 km from the coast.
We have agreed to finish that *$@%^ trail later this week, as we would like to say we have finished it. And we will.
Would I recommend this segment to others? For most people, no. However, if you want to push yourself hard, and are fit enough, it is up to you. The transportation arrangements will then be the biggest nuisance, as there is no bus anywhere near the trailheads. Once I know how tough the second part is, I may try to do the whole thing in one go, but that remains to be seen. A 20 km or so trail, with over half of it very aggressive, is certainly not a walk in the park.