Conquering the volcano?

 

Stories from a seasoned traveller : 

When it's time to hike the busiest trail on the island, get an early start. Better still, use our vanlifing through the National Parks trick. Leave even earlier, and have breakfast at the trailhead to secure the best parking spot possible. And if you are not in a campervan, pack a breakfast and eat it in the rental car! You still might not snag the best spot, but at least you won't have to add an extra 500+ metres onto the beginning(and end) of an already long hike!

Warning : You might have to share your granola with the local wildlife, like this very bold little gentleman, a Lesser Antillean Bullfinch. But you shouldn't - there's a reason why he is not shy around humans!

Enter the jungle : This is where the adventure starts. It's where we deviate from the highway that is the Pas de Roy trail, leading up to the fuming top of La Soufrière volcano, and make our way instead to the Chutes de Galion. This trail is actually a little more challenging than the volcano hike, descending deep into the jungle and the base of the Galion waterfall, and then climbs abruptly again, right to the base of La Soufrière. And it's often overlooked, since it's not THE volcano climb. In fact, we meet up with only 4 other people on the trail, and that's in 5 hours of hiking!

We actually make the decision to follow the Galion hike at the very last minute. There was a lot of rain overnight, and since a lot of the trail follows the rivers feeding the waterfall, it could have become very wet and slippery. On site, we determine that the trail is no wetter than usual - it is a river trail, after all - and so we break from the pack and hike our way down to the waterfall.

The jungle surrounds us and towers high above us. 

We pass this character on the steady descent down to the falls - a bridled quail-dove, with its red eye and iridescent neck stripes.

We also pass this character. Actually, the trail looks like it has been cleared very recently, as there is fresh-cut vegetation strewn all over. I can't help pick up this trimmed Elephant Ear and have a little fun with it. Any other Legend of Zelda fans out there? This one's for you! 

Emerging from the jungle at the base of the falls. One more small climb and we will see the full extend of the Chutes de Galion. 

Mario makes the steep climb via the provided ropes attached to a slippery rocky surface. I sit at the base, in the center of the river, watching and writing my notes.

Found it!

Now begins the big ascent. As Mario has repeated on several descents into Grand Canyon, what goes down must come back out again. And so too must we, climbing first up ladders made of tree roots and vines and anything else at arm's length.

The higher we go, the less trees there are, but there is mud. The trail continues to climb, now as a mountain run-off, a sort of gulley in which we have to find the next rock, the next pool, the next flat surface on which to plant a foot and push up further into the forest. It was a puzzle for the feet, but started to get long...It often seemed like a never-ending task.

But slowly, slowly, the light of the sky got closer, even the trail was getting more narrow. I was pulling myself up and over some of the run-off with the help of well-worn branches. Eventually, the gulley evened out, the vegetation parted, and we emerged on a flat trail, the lip of the Citerne crater, and the highest point of our trail. We made it!

This is such a bittersweet moment, because, as tough as the Chute de Galion hike is, the going is fun and challenging - just a little too long in the end. It requires an immense amount of energy, both physical and mental, and the relief when reaching the grassy lip of the crater is palpable.  

Up here, the wind is biting, particularly since we are so damp from mud and sweat. A quick shirt change and we eat our baguette sandwiches while almost skipping along the asphalt road that leads back to the parking lot. I'm not proud - I'll gladly finish up a challenging hike with a final walk along a paved road!

These buildings are part of the volcanic observation facility located next to la Citerne, monitoring the seismic activity to protect the surrounding communities. We`re pretty sure they were inhabited once upon a time, but with new technology, everything now can be done remotely, so the bunker and outbuildings look a little forgotten to the elements, walls covered in a thick layer of moss.

The last time La Soufrière erupted was in 1976, but the volcano is still very much active, spewing toxic gases that have recently closed parts of the volcano's peak to hikers. In fact, on our first trip in 2017, we were able to walk right across the top of it and hike down the other side. Now, you have to be on a registered tour with a certified guide, and are provided with gas masks to access the top!

Just to prove that things are still active, the road, used only by scientists, is now completely blocked by a recent landslide. It has covered almost all the trail with rich, red volcanic mud, and revealed a large sulfuric vent that scents the air with that eggy smell that I know I don't have to describe. 

We make a final stop at the Lady of the Mountain shrine, which we do every time, to say thank you for a safe hike, and bid her farewell until our next attempt at conquering La Soufrière.

We return to the stream of hikers, now descending from their ascension to the top of the volcano, knowing full well that we worked harder than any of them, even though we didn't reach the peak. It makes the dip into the warm waters of the mineral-rich hot springs at the base of the trail that much sweeter. And all of the muscular aches and pains from the descent and climb are instantly swept away with the water.

It' still early, but rather than go to the beach, we instead head home for a very welcome shower and a relaxing evening of doing nothing. Sure, we head out for our evening walk, pick up dinner at Kaza Manjé, admire the beauty of another sunset setting the town aglow with golden light. But we crash on the couch pretty early, and just enjoy watching some entertaining shows on TV until sleep comes up to claim us. 

I think tomorrow is going to be another of those "relax" days!

BONUS : Driving on Basse-Terre is all about navigating the twisty-turny mountain roads. It's not for the faint of heart, especially when you realize that this is also being done in a manual transmission vehicle. Enjoy this snippet of our daily life in Guadeloupe, driving home from the volcano climb, on the D6, in the area of Dolé.