Hiking Gros Piton in Saint Lucia

For Spring break, Jake and I headed to Saint Lucia for a short getaway. Thanks to my mother-in-law, this was our first vacation without Cora that did not involve running. Yes, laugh at that statement. My husband is such a champ when it comes to supporting my running. It was finally time that we took a vacation that didn’t involve a really early wake-up call and a starting line! Although, he should know better. Shortly after booking our resort and doing some online research, I was itching to hike the Pitons. I was sold fairly quickly and booked a one day excursion to hike Gros Piton! After our arrival to the island, I realized that the hike would require a two-hour drive from our resort and an early wake up call. I felt so bad! We briefly thought about not going but considering we already spent the money, we decided to not be complete lazies and do it. Let me just say that this experience did not disappoint at all. Honestly, I would consider hiking Gros Piton in Saint Lucia to be something to add to your life bucket list… it was that amazing.

As I mentioned before, we drove about two hours through the hilly, winding roads of St. Lucia. There is really only one major roadway that wraps around the coastline so it feels like a long drive whenever you travel to any location on the island. We made one pit stop on the way there to stretch our legs and take the awesome pictures above! It was starting to get real that we would be tackling the larger of the two peaks very soon!

We arrived at the base of Gros Piton shortly after driving through the town of Soufrière. When we got out of our van, we were immediately met by our tour guides. Guides are required by the park services in this area. The Gros Piton is approximately 2619 ft and is the second highest peak on Saint Lucia, after Mount Gimie (next vacation?!). Despite being the higher of the Pitons, we were told that Gros Piton is actually less technical to climb since it has an established tour route. After a brief intro at the welcome center, we started our hike.

The guides divided the hike into a quarters, each section approximately thirty minutes in length. The view from the first stop was breath-taking. I couldn’t believe that they would get better and better as we climbed.

Overall, the weather was a bit overcast for our hike. This was perfectly fine by me since it was still incredibly humid. After an hour, I was dripping wet and almost soaked through my tank top. I was trying to be conservative with my water supply. Note to self: If you do this again, bring at least double the recommended about of water. I felt like I could have used it! And, considering that this was an overcast day, I can’t imagine what it would be like to do this hike in full on sun. I was at least thankful that I brought Nuun along because I definitely needed those electrolytes! Our guide was definitely interested in learning more about Nuun.

Our third pit stop on the way up was noted as “the point of no return”. Our guides informed the group that it was now or never to turn around. We rested for a while at the site of a 300 year old mango tree, enjoyed the misting rain that was falling and waited for our group to catch up. At this point, we ended up losing a member of our group since they decided to turn around. It was definitely getting steeper and steeper at this point. Think climbing stairs for two hours. During this portion of the hike, I was definitely using all fours to get a grip. The misting rain was making things a little slick and it was definitely a challenge. But all that hiking paid off as the views of the island from the top were absolutely spectacular. It was a little tricky since there was not much space at the peak. After soaking in the views and having a quick snack, we were ready for the trip back down.

Honestly, the way down was far more challenging for me than the way up. I definitely felt it in my knees since the inclines were so steep, think walking down super steep, uneven stairs. Despite hitting all the same pit stops on the way back down, we moved a whole lot faster. The trip up was about two hours and the trip down was about an hour. As part of the tour, we ended our day with a stop for lunch at a local restaurant in Soufrière. We were starving and the local fare was so delicious! Since our entire group was so exhausted and the rain was picking up again, we ditched the plan to go swimming and headed back to the resort.

All in all, this tour was well worth the time away from the beach! And, we certainly earned a little relaxation by the fire that night. So, tell me, do you like to take it easy on vacation or do you try to keep up your fitness routine? What’s your favorite way to stay active on vacation?

Lisa