August 23, 2010... Climbing Mt. Qua Qua

Yesterday we headed out to Grand Etang National Park with Dave and Victoria (who we met in Samana, DR, and have run into in several islands now) to climb Mt. Qua Qua, a peak of about 2400 ft.  Its 1 1/2 hours from the road to the top, along the ridgeline, up and down and up again on wet, muddy trails.  So, for experienced hikers like Dave and Victoria, this was a great time.  For John, it was like being on an Army exercise (gee - wish the rucksack was a little heavier) and for Patti, this was HARD!!!  But, the views from the top were fantastic, seeing both the Atlantic and Caribbean, and we did see some beautiful birds of paradise flowers growing wild.  Luckily, the rain held off and we didn’t have too much cloud cover.  As it was there were some pretty goopy places to cross on the trail -- more water could have been trouble.  Dave and Victoria continued on for another 3 hours to Concord Falls, while Patti and John headed back down the trail, glad to be alive!  Never thought hiking could be such an aerobic exercise.  Picked up some more groceries in town and got the bus back to the boat.  It felt sooo good to sit down again; don’t think we moved for 2 hours!