Mount Liamuiga Hike
The hike up Mount Liamuiga is hours to the rim and back. The distance is about 1-3/4 miles each way and the climb does take some effort. Hikes usually begin at the 1,500-foot
level at the point where the road ends in Belmont Estates.
This is St. Kitts' toughest hike, requiring a minimum of a half-day
to reach the crater lip at 2,700 feet, as high as you can hike on the
trail since Hurricane Hugo.
The volcano is almost inactive, although rumbles on occasion and belches
sulfur. Once easily spoken of as Mount Misery, Mount Liamuiga's new name
is the Carib term for "fertile isle." It's pronounced "Lee-A-mwee-ga,"
most easily said if one has been drinking Carib beer.
Because of its circular route, the volcano hike takes you half-way
around the island. In the rain forest here you'll see trees that tower
100 feet high, mostly virgin growth without any introduced species,
such as bamboo.
You'll find gummier and mastic trees, pigeon berry and many varieties
of ferns (over 120 species).
The hike is a steady 2.5 hours of moderate climbing. The first half
of the hike, along a ridge, is gentle. On the second leg, which is much
steeper, you have to make several ascents. Yet, at its worst, the grade
is little more than a 45-degree angle. You'll find plenty of roots to
grab and pull yourself up with.
At about 2,500 feet, you enter the cloud forest and encounter vegetation
that spends most of its life covered in white mist: mostly dwarf trees
coated with orchids and mosses. A land of perpetual moisture, the trail
here can be very slippery.
However, it's over 1,000 feet higher to the summit, though you stop
at the crater lip at 2,700-feet. At the peak of 3,792 feet, the growth
is tropical alpine meadow.
At one time it was possible to descend to the crater floor but Hurricane
Hugo destroyed most of the trees that were essential handholds to keep
from falling down the steep slope.
Hugo's winds, with gusts clocked at over 200
mph, swirled into the crater and eliminated the trees on one
side--the side the ascent trail happens to be on, which makes it relatively
unsafe for climbing.
Trees inside the crater on the opposite wall are still in prime condition,
but no trail yet exists to climb that side.
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