Hiking to the Boiling Lake on Dominica is by far one of the
most amazing things I’ve ever done. The trail is about seven miles each way and
took us seven hours to hike, we stopped a few times along the way. It was an
all day hike and at one point I didn’t think I’d make it; the terrain was
really challenging for me. We had the best guide on the island, Nahjie, who not
only lives in Laudat (which makes the Boiling Lake in his ‘backyard’) but holds
the record for hiking to the Boiling Lake in one day – Nahjie has hiked to the
Boiling Lake three times in one day, AMAZING!!!
You can see the steam from the Boiling Lake in the distance, just a couple more mountains to climb...
The Valley of Desolation is surreal, it’s so alive with
boiling volcanic activity, steaming, sulfur smells, a rainbow of mineral
colors, and dangerous in places. Nahjie showed us a spot where the sulfur
turned into a mud and makes an amazing facemask for cleaning the skin. So we
did the rest of the hike in a sulfur mud mask.
We made it and ate lunch!!!
A short distance after the Valley of Desolation there are
three pools of hot water that we stopped to soak our fatigued muscles in. This
was my favorite part of the hike, it was like bath water and extremely
difficult to leave.
See the little village? The white specks to the left of the mountain. That's where we started and we're where almost, almost, half way done!
Vally of Desolation in action.
The Boiling Lake in action.
