Length: A loop trail of less than 1 mile. Time: The pool is a 10-minute walk from the road. The entire walk takes 20 minutes. Difficulty: 1-2, some climbing. This is a favorite stop on the way from Roseau to the Carib Territory.

Trailhead: Located 3.5 miles northeast of Pont Casse on the road to Rosalie and Castle Bruce. Take the left fork that goes to Castle Bruce. The small parking lot is 0.5-miles on the left.

Reached by a half-mile loop trail, the Emerald Pool is by far the most accessible spot in the entire Morne Trois Pitons National Park .   Emerald Pool is actually a waterfall-fed pool that appears bright green in the tree-filtered sunlight.

The forest here technically falls into what is known as a transition zone, not true rain forest or montane forest. The majority of plants are young trees--not shrubs--which create a massively thick canopy, prompting many vines to grow upwards from ground level.

Others, established in the tree tops, send down their roots. Epiphytes are especially fond of the filtered sunlight, and the trees are covered with them.

Both the agouti, a guinea-pig-like rodent, and the nocturnal manicou, a small opossum, live here, but you are far more likely to spot birds, particularly hummingbirds, and hear the song of the mountain warbler.

It's possible to swim in Emerald Pool; in fact, on a hot day you'll probably want to. If you do, go stand behind the 20-foot high waterfall; there's plenty of room in the eroded stone behind it. But be careful. The rocks are slippery.

The short trail has 3 lookout points. All illustrate just how heavily forested and natural Dominica remains.

The first lookout is of Morne Trois Pitons. The second looks across Belle Fille Valley and Morne Negres Marrons (2,248 feet). Part of the trail past the second viewpoint is paved for a short distance.

This is part of the old track used as a main road by the Carib Indians from perhaps 800 years ago to as late as the 1960s.

The third outlook shows the Atlantic Coast at Castle Bruce and Anse Quanery.

If you happen to be here near twilight, enjoy the chorus of tree frogs and crickets. Bats, too, will appear at that time, helping to control the island's insect population.

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