[Gimpilator]

What sort of person goes to the Caribbean and doesn’t set foot on a beach? This was a 6 day trip with 3 travel days and 3 hiking days. I began in Jamaica. 10-29 Blue Mountain Peak – 7402’ The highest peak in Jamaica is famous for growing what is widely accepted as the best coffee in the world. The coffee is expensive and most people in the states have never tasted it. I hired a local company, Tropical Trips Jamaica, to take care of all the logistics for me. (Cheryl +1-809-974-0036)

The road to the trailhead is very rough and not recommended for rental vehicles. I started the hike at 5am with a local guide. He slowed me down, but was interesting to talk to and I enjoyed the conversation for the first hour. He wouldn’t let me lead until after the sun came up, for safety.

There was a little bit of rain near the top, but not bad. Sort of warm, even at elevation. For the 2nd hour I took the lead and the guide started to fall behind. There are two summits, with a lower bump in between. It’s a nice trail, pleasantly constructed and easy on the feet.

Blue

coffee

Just under 5 hours moving time, round-trip. On the summit I bought a pound of Blue Mountain coffee from the guide, which he had roasted himself. Pretty neat.

The Middle Caicos Blue Hole is likely the widest ocean hole on earth (seen during flight)

11-1 Pico del Yaque – 9058’ The highest peaks in the Caribbean are located in the Dominican Republic. Again I hired a local company to do logistics, so that all I had to do was show up, traveling with nothing more than a very small backpack. Guias de Alturas (+1-809-974-0036) is a great company, highly recommended. They were very flexible and accommodating for my faster than normal pace and when it came to adding some extra unplanned peaks.

paella in Boca Chica including 2 lobsters

I found my happy place

After camping at the gate to the national park, I was hoping for a 5:30am start to beat the heat, but the old-timer ranger had to play a bit of a game with us, showing how he truly is the authority and stalling our departure until 6:15am. At one point I was seated at his table for about 10 minutes in silence, while he played with his phone. Whatever…

Finally we were off. Two men, two mules, and a mysterious dog that showed up right as we were leaving. Luis would be riding one mule and also serving as my cook for two meals. The other mule carried some food and sleeping gear. Most people require 3 days for the 26+ mile hike, but I would be doing it in 1.5 days, plus 2 extra peaks, so closer to 30 miles. The gain is over 9000 feet for just the main peak and probably over 10,000 for all 3.

Perro Loco

Luis

The first several miles were along a jungle track next to a river. I knew from satellite maps that the village had grown up along the park boundary, on the other side of the river. If you wanted to try to sneak this peak solo, you could probably start here (19.05855, -70.86816 ) and both avoid the park gate and cut off the first kilometer. Locals are using this starting point. After you leave the valley floor, there’s a good water source at 6500 feet. Tree coverage is more sparse higher up and the trail has a lot of deep trenches and then uneven rocks, sometimes loose. It’s not an easy trail.

Yaque summit

I knew from the forecast that afternoon rain was certain, so I kept a steady pace and we made it to La Comparticion in 5 hours and 20 minutes. This grouping of cabins which serves as the main camp. Along the way I bushwhacked up a steep tussock slope to Pico del Yaque. That detour cost about 25 minutes.

spartan accommodations

The ranger stationed at Comparticion seemed bored to death and was treating it with some incessant loud music. He was friendly and shared his rice and beans with me, so I was completely tolerant of the noise pollution, even after 8pm. I made the mistake of feeding the dog and patting him on the head. From then onward he didn’t like to let me out of his sight. Whenever I snuck away or got ahead by faster pace, he would protest with howls and run to catch up to me. This was ongoing for the full 30+ mile trek. Sort of endearing. I called him “Perro Loco”. 11-2 Pico Duarte – 10,164’ Originally Luis would not hear of my intent to go solo on summit day. I could tell he did not really want to walk with me to the summits, and preferred to ride mules over walking. So I spent some time trying to convince him in my broken Spanish that I would be ok, and had enough experience to back up this trail hike, “tres mil picos”. Eventually he seemed thoroughly convinced.

Pelona

Perro Loco and I set out at 5:15am, doing the first hour by headlamp. There were some nice meadows up high and the predawn light was inspiring. It was cold and windy on the summit. The dog whimpered and we didn’t stay long.

Perro Loco

a view towards Haiti

Loma la Pelona – 10,151’ Nearby to the northwest is another peak. Of the two map sets I had downloaded, one indicated Pelona as the same exact elevation as Duarte and the other showed it as higher, with an extra contour line. The official government surveys all claim that Duarte is highest, but you have to wonder a little bit, because governments are sometimes dishonest when it comes to summit elevations. Have had many conversations about that with my friend Petter.

In any case, visiting Pelona was a must. So I took the trail over there. The summit area is overgrown with brush and has an old cabin and derelict viewing tower. Now satisfied that I had the highest peak on the island, I turned back to camp. The dog followed.

Duarte

My time for these two peaks was 3 hours and 15 minutes. From camp back to the park entrance was 4 hours, so total hiking time was 12hr35m which includes a few food breaks. Duarte was my 29th peak with over 2000 meters of prominence this year. Petter had the old record, at 18 in a year.

[raising3hikers]

Good stuff, Adam. Congrats on the new record of 2000m prominent pks in a year

[awilsondc]

International peak bagging sure seems complicated! Nice trip though, and congrats on the record... That's pretty crazy, especially considering that WA only has 4 such peaks! Well done!

[Route Loser]

You have really been getting around to some nice places. I'd take the Mount Agung coffee over the Blue Mountain myself.

[Stefan]

That's pretty cool!

[crock]

Gimpilator - From the village of La Cienaga de Manaba, there's a sign saying 426.2 km (28.7 miles), 2380m (7,810') round trip to Pico Duarte https://peakbaggerblobs.blob.core.windows.net/pbphoto/p2303L.jpg. According to Caltopo, it looks like the distance is 25.8 mile and 10,170' of vertical. Your suggested shortcut might cut off 1.4 miles and 60'. For someone in reasonable shape, is it feasible to do Pico Duarte in a day going solo? I did the 31.2 miles 6,800' Loowit Trail this summer and 30.0 miles 7,320' White Pass to Walupt Lake last summer (throwing in a little sidetrip up Old Snowy Mtn). However, those trails were probably in better shape and faster. Plus there's more oxygen at Old Snowy's 7,900' summit and the 4,900' high point on the Loowit Trail than there is at 10,000' on Pico Duarte.

[Gimpilator]

Thanks Eric, Aaron and Stefan!

[Route Loser]

[Sky Hiker]

Interesting pictures and area.