As we got nearer and nearer the end of our trip, we got more and more restless. We are definitely not people who enjoy just sitting around for a week! Not wanting to spend more money, we decided to climb the big hills right next door to the resort, that we learned were on Pigeon Island. Once an actual island, a causeway now connected them to the mainland. We were astounded that even though they were about 1/2 mile down the road, people still took cabs to get to them! Incredible. We put on sunscreen and walked down the street, where we paid $8 , and then entered the park where the small peaks were located.
Since we'd come to climb, we headed out on the trail. I actually took the photos above at the end, since I had to let me camera warm up a bit, since the camera going from the A/C of the room to the humid outside would cause all the lenses to fog over! As we hiked up (in the morning, to avoid the extreme heat), we took in the sites of the forest we were walking through. It smelled earthy and alive, and there were birds all over the place. Zelda would have loved it. On the way up, we got some great pictures of the area we were staying in, from a much better view.
There are two peaks on Pigeon Island, and our first stop was the old British fort on top of one of the peaks, Fort Rodney. Since St. Lucia went back and forth between the French and the British a whole bunch of times, for a long time it was strategically very important. After ascending a final set of steep stairs, we found ourselves on top of the fort, where we were able to look at some old cannons, the powder magazine, and a cool old well used for both cooling the cannons and drinking water. There were plaques and signs for us to read explaining the history. The views were gorgeous. We hung out there and took some pictures for a while, since it was a bit of a climb to get up there.
Once we'd had our fill of the fort, we turned our attention to the next goal, the taller peak right next door. This one proved to be a bit more difficult. The trail was steeper and often just large rocks, and the wind whipped very hard. That said, we didn't actually have too much trouble, pausing occasionally to catch our breath as we powered on up the peak. Katie was also smart enough to pack some water in the backpack I was carrying. As we went up, we passed more of the old British fort, including the musket redoubt, and the "gunslide", which just looked like overgrown forest to us, but whatever.
I didn't take a ton of pictures going up the hill because it was so steep! We took our time, since a good portion of the trail was a rock scramble, no handrails or anything. Worried not only about injuring myself, I was also worried about breaking the camera if I fell! Katie managed it a lot easier than I did since she has much better balance, and was kind enough to take the backpack so I could avoid yet complication during the climb. We had to pause a couple of times to let other people coming back down get by us on the narrow trail. Finally, though, after quite a while, we made up the mountain! Hooray! The wind was really whipping, but we took a minute to take a few more photos, drink some more water, then make our way back down.
After descending the peak, we spent a little bit more time exploring the rest of the park. Down below were the old officers quarters, and some other British ruins. We even saw an almond tree! Other highlights included an old phone booth, the "golden shower tree" which we giggled at, and a solar power demonstration site. It also seemed as though the park staff were in the midst of some major renovations for the site, which is a good thing, since it could definitely be a major tourist attraction for the area with a little bit more love. After snapping a few more photos, we headed back to the resort, just down the street. We were pretty happy about our trip, and spent the rest of the day drinking and relaxing on the beach.
-Chris