Morne Rouge

On Sunday, a group of us hiked up Morne (or Mont) Rouge, the tall hillside adjacent to our village's beach. It was steep, but the views were magnificent. Here is a picture of me taken part-way up the hill.

For a brief portion, there was a trail—but you had to watch your step, because one wrong step could result in a fall down the hillside.

The picture below shows a particularly challenging spot, where you had to cross a slight ridge on the hillside. Everyone seemed to choose their own path to get over this obstacle.

Below is a view of one of the oldest students who led up on this trip, showing him far above us as we zig-zagged up the hill.

Here is a view looking down on the beach area. If you look close, you can see two of our fishing boats pulled up on the sand.

Below is a tilted picture, which gives a wider view, showing more of the village (on the left side) as well as the beach.

As we neared the top and were off the rocky cliff and in the scrub brush forest, it began to sprinkle. The kids didn't need umbrellas, because they just used the stem and leaf that grows plentiful here. The leaves of this plant are huge—about two feet in diameter.

We were able to find a clearing at the top that gave us a great view of “L'islet,” as shown in the picture below. You can also see some of the red rock that gives Mont Rouge its name.

While in the bush, the kids were excited to find “red eyes.” Supposedly, the evil spirits (“secoya”?) in the forest eat these hard berries. So far, I have yet to see any of these monsters. If I do, I'll be sure to turn it into a blog story!

To get from the ridge that Mont Rouge is connected to, we had to work our way down a steep hill that had experienced a landslide during Tropical Storm Erika. The loose soil made it quite difficult to keep your footing.

After crossing the creek at the bottom, we then had to climb up a steep hillside to get back to the main road. Although difficult, it wasn't quite as bad as climbing the “cliff” of Mont Rouge at the start of this hike.

We finished our hike by crossing another ridge and dropping down into a small river valley that leads back to the village. The boys loved showing me a “swimming hole” where they could jump into the water. It was a refreshing way for them to end this fun trip.