Thursday, August 20

Caneel Hill Trail and Ascent

I worked in the office until around noontime, catching up on my to-do list. I keep having people ask me how much longer I'm here, when Mom gets here, and those sorts of questions. They aren't the only ones realizing I'm nearing the end of my internship... I'm amazed that it really is time to bring things to a close on the island.

Mom will be here in roughly 2 weeks... arriving on September 5th. I'm excited to show her as much as I can between the 5th and the 10th, when we both board a plane to return to DC. There is so much to see and do, and I've covered most of it in the blog, so you can see, with what amounts to like 90 pages so far in a word document, I've got plenty of things to fill the days. I think I'll show her at least the following: Ram Head, Aqua Bistro, Surly Cantina, Low Key Watersports, The Beach Bar, Salomon Beach, Trunk Bay, Jost Van Dyke's Soggy Dollar, Cinnamon Bay, Maho Bay (where I used to live), Annaberg, Francis Bay (amazing snorkeling!), Leinster Bay, and Waterlemon Bay. We'll for sure need a rental car or else rely heavily on other means for transportation to see it all. I'm thinking for Jost, we'll spend a day at Soggy Dollar, hopefully either renting a hobie cat, or maybe getting on a ferry or some other vessel that will let us enjoy the atmosphere at Soggy Dollar for as long as possible. If it all possible, it would be awesome to take Mom on the ranger-led Reef Bay Trail Hike, showing her things like Bay Rum, Ginip, Stinky Toe, Monkey-no-climb, Turpentine, Cacao, Elephant-tree, Christmas tree bush, Reef Bay Great House, Petroglyphs, Reef Bay, Dildo cactus, Turks cactus, corals sealed into the walls of ruins, millipedes, soldier crab, and golden orb spiders.

The second half of my work day was a glorious hike across part of the island. Christy dropped me off at the trail head for the Caneel Hill Trail just across from the Caneel Bay Resort entrance. I hiked around 2.4 miles, returning to the maintenance yard in Cruz Bay. The hike was a lot of fun, physically demanding, and it took me just over two and a half hours. I drank 4 Liters of water. Again, it's worth emphasizing that it was about 90 degrees out, almost no wind, between the ours of 12 and 3pm, in not too much shade. I had just the smallest spec of dry fabric in my entire outfit by the time I finished. Along the trail, I really enjoyed the views of the southern parts of the island, which were great from both Margaret Hill and Caneel Hill. I would very much love to have a buddy and a bouldering pad at Margaret Hill, where there is a good spot for some nice bouldering. Unfortunately, the approach is pretty intense, to be carrying a bouldering pad. Not for the weak of heart.

I would imagine I walked through anywhere from 30-40 spider webs today on the trail. There were many that I did not run into, so the number could easily soar into the hundreds. Based on how many I did find scattered onto my legs, face, and arms, I'm thinking the trail hasn't gotten much use in the past few days, making the webs big and sturdy. The golden orb ones are always a treat...nearly stopping you as you walk forward. One of the golden orb spiders I agitated was something like three inches across, including the leg-span. That's a big spider! I was sad to have ruined part of its web, but I know it will re-spin the whole thing again, every day, so all is not lost.

It wasn't until I got back to the office that I realized today is probably one of the hottest days we've had in a long time. I believe it! I felt drenched from just 2.4 miles! Of course, I gained around 2300 feet in elevation during the hike, according to my Garmin Forerunner. There is a link for the hike's GPS data... http://connect.garmin.com/activity/11635679 Let me know if you have any trouble viewing the hike!

I returned from the hike, showered off the layers of crusty and salty sweat, and headed over to Keith's. There, I enjoyed a delicious tuna casserole surprise and got to watch Easy Money with Rodney Dangerfield. Sad to say it took me 26 years to get around to watching it! I love movies from the 80's! That reminds me, I saw One Crazy Summer on iTunes for like $4.99! I'm tempted to get it! It's like that bargain bin at Walmart with very low-priced DVD's- it's hard to pass up!