July 26th, 2010
We joined a group of cruisers including many of whom are anchored in Mt. Hartman Bay on a hike up to Mt Qua Qua. We took a bus up into the rainforest and got off at the trailhead near Monkey Point named for the Mona Monkeys who frequent the area in hopes of a handout. We gathered at a picnic table to take a few photos in the event we lost track of any of our group…..but really, it’s an Island, how far can you go if you get lost? The trail started out very nicely maintained but due to the recent and continuing rains that have graced the Island, soon became quite the mud fest. We wandered along becoming a little taller with each step as the mud accumulated on the soles of our shoes. This I am certain is what caused the change in my center of gravity thus disrupting my amazing balance and causing me to end up on my butt on a number of occasions. As evidenced by the back side of my shorts after a few slips and slides. We traversed along the shore of Grand Etang Lake which is situated inside of a volcanic crater. The trail in some spots reminded me of knife ridge back in Colorado as it was no more that 2 ft wide in places and dropped off steeply on both sides of the trail that followed the ridgeline. The views as always were spectacular. Some of us were looking forward to taking the trail all the way to Concord falls, a 10 mile hike but the only information we had was to take a left at the fork in the Mt. Qua Qua trail. When we got to the fork, that section of trail was not maintained and had quite a lot of razor grass and wait-a-bit scrub that constantly grabbed at our bare arms, legs and clothing. The combination of the muddy slippery conditions, and additional forks that were not in the description, convinced us to hike back out on the Mt. Qua Qua trail. We stopped at Grand Etang Lake and enjoyed our lunch. We headed back out to the trailhead and got to see the Monkeys just before catching a bus. I have been playing with the little handheld GPS unit that Mike has had for a few years but never used. After cleaning it up I downloaded a map of Grenada sent to me by my friend Rebecca on S/V Passport and entered the coordinates for a Virtual Geocache that was listed near where we were going to hike. The Dock at Grand Etang Lake, next to where we had lunch, was where the coordinates finally led me, so I successfully located my 1st Geocache. There are 3 other traditional Geocaches here on the Island so I may take some additional side trips to see if I can locate any of them.
Living the Dream 