A Tale of Two Hikes

Today was Ross's mid-semester break, which means all the students had the day off. Since Monday is Mad-Hikers day, us VIPs decided to bring our over-worked spouses on our hike up to the Bat Cave.  As I was uploading my pictures from today, I realized I hadn't updated since early last week, and I have been on TWO hikes since then!

A shot I took while on the hike today, I can't believe how amazing it turned out!

Last Monday was a pretty easy hike.  We went out to Wingfield Estates (where we went zip-lining), and hiked west to some more old sugar plantation ruins. I have no idea to whom they once belonged to, or when they fell out of use. BJ, a fellow VIP who leads some of the hikes, said that the main house was allegedly being restored and turned into a hotel. It was easy to see all the modern masonry from the outside, and Trevor said it was even wired already. Lame. So instead of checking out the house, I focused on the old sugar processing area. This area was pretty well preserved. I liked the windmill ruins and the smoke stack best. There is even a passage that takes you into the bottom of the smoke stack, so you can look up toward the sky. I think the building near them is called a Boiling House, but I am not sure. I really should study up on the old sugar plantations in my free time.  We wandered around the ruins for a while, waited out a brief rainstorm in the windmill, and then headed back towards the car. We walked through field of what is either sugar cane or guinea grass... I should look those up too!  I just found this website, and it has really interesting and helpful information about St. Kitt's old plantations. It has some wonderful pictures of various estates (not the one we hiked unfortunately), and the essay sheds some light on the sugar plantations and their history. Click here to check out my entire album from this hike.

Part of the windmill, smokestack, and what I think might be part of the boiling house

Windmill (just the base, the wooden top part is gone) and the smokestack.

Back to today's hike.  Rob was very excited to go hiking. It has been driving him batty (ha) because I pretty much hate hiking, and he loves it. I go because I don't want to sit at home all day, I like the people that go hiking, and St. Kitts is really beautiful! The destination today was the Bat Cave. Getting to the trail head is... interesting. You have to turn down what looks like a driveway, turn at what looks like the end of the driveway, and finally come to a dead end in a sugar cane field (or guinea grass, I really need to figure out the difference). Next you dive into the cane field (with stalks about 9 or 10 feet tall), and just walk until you come to a dry creek bed. Yep, you just walk blind through the field. Ok, it is possible there there was a trail, and I just couldn't see it.  Once you are in the creek bed, the hike is pretty easy; it's fairly flat, you just have to watch your footing, cause the rocks are uneven and loose in places, and some are slippery with moss. There are a couple tricky parts though- including a huge boulder you have to climb over. I hate that stupid boulder, it doesn't even have the decency to be easy to climb over. There is a rope that you can use to pull yourself up, but precious few footholds. The guys made it up easy enough, the other ladies and I required some help... Courtney's husband, Lance, was kind enough to give the girls a boost (basically he let us step in his hand) as we grabbed the rope. Once Lance had boosted us up a bit, and we pulled ourselves up a little ways, BJ grabbed our hands, and helped to pull us the rest of the way.  The creek bed past the boulder had puddles and pools along the final leg to the Bat Cave, but again was pretty flat. The closer you get to the cave the more high pitched squeaky sounds you hear- it's the bats using their super sweet echo location! Inside the cave, which is relatively small (it looked like another giant boulder leaning against a bend in the rock wall), there are bats EVERYWHERE!!! Hanging from the ceiling, flying through the air, pooping on the ground, squeaking adorably, BATS GALORE! i have posted a video of the inside of the Bat Cave towards the bottom of this post

The giant boulder you have to climb over

When you hike the the Bat Cave, you have the option of continuing on past the cave to a waterfall. You have to climb over another impasse. I was actually able to get my big bum up and over without too much help! I made Trevor stand behind me just in case I fell to my death (it was only like 7-8 feet, but it was very rocky...). The way to the waterfall was also pretty easy once you got pass the climb. The falls are pretty small, and the water comes from one small pool up top, down to the pool underneath. Rob went up to the top pool, apparently it was home to some craw fish.

Waterfall

The hike back to the car was harder than coming up because it started to rain, making the rocks very slick (I not so gracefully fell twice). I was really nervous about using the rope to get down from the boulder. It was less scary then I anticipated. It's just tricky because you have to edge out on your belly, while trying to curl your legs under the ledge to find the foothold! Again, Lance assisted by pretty much grabbing my flailing foot and sticking it in the right spot. After you have footing, you basically scooch over the edge, backwards, while shimmy-ing down the rope. Moments like that remind my why I am not wildery.  Oy vey.

To see the pictures from today's hike, click here!  Oh, and we signed our lease for next semester, so be sure to book a room in the Dolphin House soon!