On our last full day in Dominica, we headed back up into the Morne Trois Pitons National Park for another bit of hiking. The Lonely Planet said the Freshwater Lake was "an easy 2.5-mile jaunt" around a beautiful lake, and that Boeri Lake was stunning and the highest lake in the country. Our guide, Bobby, showed us the two trailheads and arranged to come back for us about three hours later. Both Freshwater and Boeri Lakes are crater lakes, though Freshwater is dammed to manage its contribution to the hydroelectric infrastructure that provides about 40% of Dominica's power.
Freshwater Lake from lake-level.
I've never been a huge fan of The Lonely Planet anyway, but the number of irregular and very steep stairs on this hike made it neither "easy" nor "a jaunt." It was very beautiful, and we obviously had no regrets, but wow. The only other people on the trail were Italians with a baby in a backpack and Crocs on their feet, probably because they saw a translation of The Lonely Planet.
Freshwater Lake is, truly, very beautiful. We enjoyed the views even with the swirling mists because it was much cooler, and we'd seen the huge vistas previously.
Note the trail going along the ridge to the right of the lake. Where there weren't stairs, there was usually a sort of boardwalk structure.
Looking roughly north from the Freshwater Lake trail.
It was also quite windy, as Ian demonstrates.
The Atlantic Ocean as seen from the Freshwater Lake trail. We were at about 2500 feet above sea level.
These stairs go off the edge of the world....
Or just down another steep dip.
Once again we saw lots of cool palm flowers (?) and tons of fern.
The fiddleheads on the ferns were amazing. They ranged from tiny to giant, and we saw them in just about every stage of unfurl.
The reddish water coming down the pipe is warm, heated by geothermal sources. Some resourceful person set up a sort of pseudo faucet to make a hand- or foot-washing station for hikers coming off the muddy trails. Ingenious!
On the hike up to Boeri Lake we got another glimpse of the huge pipeline that rushes water for hydroelectricity all around the island.
The hike to Boeri Lake was also very beautiful and rugged. There was a good portion in the middle that involved scrambling over medium-sized boulders covered in moss that looked like nothing so much as a troubled small river without any water (luckily). We both slipped and slid a lot, but neither of us actually fell, and somehow the way back was significantly shorter than the way there. Ian and I agree that it's much easier to scramble up boulders than it is to scramble down.
This is Boeri Lake, the highest lake in Dominica. It was chilly and misty, and the clouds were moving in and out of the bowl we were in very quickly. I've included two photos of two views across the lake, roughly, to give you an idea of the density of the clouds. This is looking up the lake.
And this is looking across the lake. It is not a very big lake.
After lunch we managed to get a couple of pictures together.
Ian once again amiably and ably demonstrates the beauty and the scale of our environment.
The Morne Trois Pitons National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site for obvious reasons. The Dominicans we talked to were naturally very proud of the beauty and good condition of their island, but they know it faces constant threats. For starters, Dominicans are obsessed with protecting their beautiful island from litter. To eyes jaded by the complex ecological catastrophe that is Haiti, it looks like a very clean country. But once you look carefully, you do in fact start to notice bits of garbage here and there. The campaign to clean it up/ keep it clean is everywhere! More troubling even than litter, however, is a project to harness the geothermal energy for export to Martinique and Guadaloupe (neighbors to the south and north, respectively). The environmentalists on the island are currently waging a campaign to oblige the government to release the results of an environmental impact study conducted by an Icelandic company. There are serious concerns about all sorts of problems: chemical leaks and leaching; destabilization of the water tables; and eventual fracking caused by changes in the subsoil. Our Boiling Lake tour guide, Jeffrey, is one of the leaders of the Geothermal Awareness Group.
Here's a handy profile map of the big mountains in southern Dominica. Our cottage was on the western slopes of the Morne Anglais. On the Boiling Lake hike, we saw Mornes Trois Pitons and Micotrin with no clouds. I think we also saw Mornes John and Watt (Watt is shaped like a face when seen from the right angle), but I wouldn't swear to it.
Here's a drawing of the peaks in the park...
And a close-up of the Boeri Lake and Freshwater Lake trails.
And some lovely sunset photos to end this post. These are taken from roughly the same spot (in front of our cottage) but on different nights. It's a very beautiful place! These sunset pix are taken with the Rob and Marta Ross Visit Mexico Memorial Camera, a wonderful Canon point-and-shoot with an awesome sunset filter. It's also our underwater camera (again, amazing filter!) and our self-portrait camera.
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