After a morning of errands with Sara, she packed me off with the boys in the back of a spray-painted and glitter dusted pickup truck with the Kiwi and the risk-taker. We were off to try a hike/run in the National Park on the north shore of the island. I'm glad to have take the journey over the saddle between Rainmaker Mountain and Mount 'Alava in the back of a pickup. Too often my trips around Tutuila have been from inside an SUV. Riding around in the back of a pickup opens up whole new vistas that I never noticed. The volcanic peaks soar around you and the coastal road snakes underneath cliffs and between some stunning verdant slopes when there's no longer a roof to constrain your view. I need to keep this in mind when exploring transportation options here on the the island.
The road up to the ridge was steep. The risk taker was the driver, but being new to driving manual he ran into trouble when he came to a stop after trying to push third-gear too far up the hill. With some gentle ribbing from the more experienced stick-drivers in the truck bed told him how to get going again on a slope. The driver then proceeded to roll several truck lengths back down the steep slope and across the other lane. The Kiwi, took it upon himself to get the car headed uphill again and we managed to reach the ridge of the mountain,where driving responsibilities were turned over to the risk-taker again.
From the saddle between the two volcanic peaks, there is an amazing view down on the harbor and the Tafuna plains. I'm definitely coming back here for a sunset and a beer. If only I'd brought my camera on this trip...
Over on the north side of the island, it's almost all National Park that is accessible from the road to Afono and Vatia. We parked at one of the National Park turn offs and started hiking up from the coastal road. It wasn't until I was on the trail that I realized that both my hiking partners were wearing cleats. I was piddling away in my "barefoot" running shoes. This was OK for the uphill, but there was enough mud underneath the rain-forest canopy to make me leery of the descent. I couldn't think about that too much as we continued our ascent up to the ridge between Rainmaker and 'Alava.
The top of the ridge afforded a new sensation for me in American Samoa. It was slightly cold up there. I may have actually gotten goosebumps. After sweating my way through the last four weeks, it was a welcome sensation.
The foliage would occasionally open up to afford some tremendous views from the ridge. Overlooking the village of Vatia and the Cock's Comb to the north and Pago harbor to the south. Next time I take this route, I'm not making the same mistake I did this time and am going to bring my camera. The best spot had two benches that had an amazing overlook of both the bay and the village of Vatia.
The hike along the ridge was steep and muddy. The Park Service had placed several ladders with rope to make the trail passable. The ups and downs of the ridge were steep and narrow. Without these aids, descending would be a dangerous challenge, especially with steep drops on both sides of the ridge.
The hike down off the ridge cut off right before the steep slope of Mount 'Alava started to climb. The descent was steep and muddy. This is where the cleats my fellow hikers were wearing paid off. I had to pick and choose my steps, where they could crash right on through. I'm going to need to ship an old pair of my rugby or soccer cleats out before the rains make these trail impassable to any other type of shoe.
When Sara's leg gets strong enough, I'm dragging her on this hike. Once we reached the bottom of the trail we were in the village of Vatia. It's one of the more remote and poorer villages on the island. The local school kids used to have to hike over the ridge twice a day to attend school in Pago Harbor along the same trail we just down-climbed. Now that the road's gone in, their access to education slightly easier.
We had to fend off a few local dogs on our walk back along the road to the car. The routine for this is grab some fist sized rocks from the side of the road and if the dogs get too close, throw the rocks at the dogs. It becomes second nature after awhile.
We also had some local kids yelling "Hey Palangi" at us. They loved our casual greeting in Samoan of "Malo" in response. The hike back to the truck was less exciting, we walked along the road to the turnoff where we started. We made it back to the glitter truck with enough sunlight to justify a hike down to the tide pools below where we parked.
There were some cool archaeological sites on the hike down. A star mound, a rock used to sharpen axes and some terraces had NPS signs and descriptions on the hike down. At the bottom of the hike, we got to some deep and narrow tide pools. We jumped from the rocks surrounding the pools on both side and were even able to dive in the deeper spots. It was a great way to cool off and relax after our 5-mile hike.
We eventually made it back to the car after watching the sun set behind the Cock's Comb. The ride back over the ridge was a little chilly in the back of the pickup, especially since we were still wet from the tide pools. Once we made it back to the risk-taker's temporary housing at the hospital the Kiwi and I called our wives and begged forgiveness for hiking the day away and each got ourselves a ride home. Overall an amazing hike, now I just have to deal with my sore legs and blisters. I'll do it again soon, once I have cleats and a camera to do it justice.
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