It is fairly well establish that if you travel with us at some point you are going to be pushing into extreme exercise. On this trip it was a climb up Gros Pitot on St. Lucia. Booking a guide I had not realized that it would require four hours (round trip) in a van, which made it tight on time to complete the hike.
King Richard, our guide was extremely personable and knowledgeable about the island. He kept us entertained and made the drive pass quickly. Once at the trailhead we got paired up with our two guides and after a short safety meeting we were on our way. The first quarter of the hike was comfortable, conversations and laughter came easily. Moving past that point the incline increased and I might have annoyed Rick talking about fishing and fish types with Linkan, one of our guides, who is big into fishing.
At this point we had an amazing view of Petit Piton and with limited time we needed to push further up the mountain, with Lisa, Andy, Jean and I heading off. The pace was a bit too fast and it really sucked the energy out of us as the incline approached that of a ladder. We took a number of short breaks and reaching the 250 year old mango tree (3/4 way up point) we all breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a hard push.
The timing was getting tighter, Lisa and Andy decided to head back down to the half way point to join Rick and Angie while Jean and I pressed on. The last quarter was by far the steepest and we worked very hard getting there at a quick clip. Soon enough we were rewarded with a spectacular view of the island. A snack, some photos, and it was time to blast down hill.
Downhill was so much easier, but at the same time we were so thankful for the hand railings to keep us from losing our footing. We did our best to try and catch our group but alas they beat us to the bottom. Grabbing a beer and bottle of water we jumped in the van for the trip back to Castries. Thankfully traffic was light and we had plenty of time.
My biggest complaint was Jean forcing me to climb nine flights of stairs to get back up to our cabin. Man, were my legs burning. Still an amazing day and an island that we would all like to come spend a week exploring.
No Comments