Boiling Lake Escapade

As I mentioned in the previous post, I planned on hiking the boiling lake trail a few weekends ago.  Here is a recollection of the arduous journey to the flooded fumarole in the mountains of Morne Trois Pitons.

On the day of the trek, I woke up quite early feeling excited for the hike.  The anticipatory thoughts and emotions running through my head were similar to how I felt during the morning prior to the swearing-in ceremony.  I was definitely ready for the brilliant and challenging task which lied ahead.

As many people know, I have had surgical operations on both of my knees.  Because I understood it was going to be a very intense day for my joints, I decided to wear a knee brace on the relatively less healthy leg.

As we got a ride from town to the start of the boiling lake path, the sun shined bright and it was beautiful outside. When we started the climb up, the weather turned to rain and overcast.  The climate in the mountainous rainforest is completely unpredictable.  Luckily, the overhanging trees kept the rain from falling on the group. 

The boiling lake hike in its entirety is only about eight miles long (round trip) but it has fairly intense mountains to climb up and fast-flowing rivers to cross.  Many parts of the trail required actual mountain climbing too which made me feel like a true “mountain man” just like Bear Grylls from the show Man vs. Wild.  One really intriguing thing about the aforementioned rivers is that they had hot water flowing in them so it was important to not slip and fall while crossing.  Also, the strong scent of sulfur permeated through the air during the entire climb. 

When we stumbled upon the first mountain peak of the hike, I was really excited because we were literally inside a cloud.  Apparently the view of parts of the island is amazing from this peak when the weather is clear.  Even though we missed out on the fantastic view, I still really enjoyed the weather because it kept me feeling cool throughout the day. 

Parts of the climb had man-made tree log steps which reminded me of walking up/down sports stadium steps because of how spread out they were.  However, they were not the sturdiest as many of them rocked back and forth while we walked on them.  Also, the steps constructed of tree logs were quite steep. 

After the first peak, we found our way to the valley of desolation.  This place omitted the most intense sulfuric odor during the whole trek.  Hot, sulfur-infused water flowed through the entire valley.  Also, I reveled in the view of boiling mud spots and water steaming from the ground.  The “valley of desolation” is an appropriate name for the area because of how different it looked compared to the surrounding lush vegetation.  The massive crater openings made the valley look like it could be mistaken for a section of the moon.

Upon crossing through the valley of desolation, we advanced our way up to our primary destination, the boiling lake.  The condensing water vapor made it difficult to see five feet in front of us as we approached the blistering hot body of water.  The path takes people to a lookout point where one may see the lake from the high ground.  I stood there in amazement while surveying the giant lake which was visibly bubbling. 

Being adventurous, a few of the people I hiked with and I scaled down the cliff with intentions to touch the lake.  This mountainside was extremely difficult to get down especially because the rain made the rock grips slippery.  We all climbed down safely though.  I put my hand in the boiling water and could only hold it in there for less than a second as my reflexes quickly pulled it back.  The water vapor intensified vastly on the shoreline relative to the lookout spot.

At the point where the hike concludes, we found a steep, narrow gorge with water flowing through it.  The others and I all willingly dove into the water after the strenuous hike.  Because we trekked a long way away from the active volcanoes in this region of the island, the water temperature was severely cold.  It felt quite revitalizing for my sore knees.  We all swam into the caved area and then discovered a small waterfall far into the shadowy gorge.  I swam close to the waterfall then rested myself against the gorge wall.  It was pretty cool to have the force of the water keep me glued to the rock side.  I would only recommended people who are confident with their swimming abilities to venture far into this gorge as the water level was fairly deep, it was difficult to see, and the walls were smooth so there was no place to grab onto for a rest.

The whole day was extremely fun!  I’m so glad that I did the boiling lake hike and I cannot wait to do it again. 

The next hiking adventure I plan on embarking on is scaling up Morne Diablotins which is the highest point on the island at 4,747 feet.  Actually, the active volcano, Morne Diablotins, is the second highest point in the entire Caribbean Lesser Antilles.  Even though the boiling lake hike may be considered the most difficult hike on the island, Morne Diablotins will be strenuous too as it is almost double the height of boiling lake. 

Being on the island which has the highest concentration of potentially active volcanoes in the world definitely has its advantages.

I’ve been doing tons of other stuff as well which I will update you all on in the near future.  Things are going extremely well still and I’m excited to continue serving the people of Dominica.

Hope everything is well with you all too!

Until the next time,

Joe