My sister Julie’s birthday today. I call her in the afternoon but she can’t talk long – her and granddaughter Avery (my grand niece, Blair’s second girl) have gone to McDonald’s to celebrate their birthdays and Avery has pooped her pants. Julie has to change her.

We head in early to go through Customs and Immigration. They open at 8 am so we want to be there soon after so (a) no lineups, no waiting and (b) don’t want them to get excited that we didn’t check in yesterday. We get to Soufriere just after 8 am and while Christy waits near the beat up, broken down pier, I go to C&I.

Thankfully I remember there are two buildings to go to, remember where they are and remember which one to visit first. St. Lucia is one of the strangest check-in countries, there are 4 people you have to visit. First is customs, that’s straightforward, the usual 4 copies of stupid forms. Then you go across the hall to the woman who manages the Health entrance. 4 copies of stupid forms declaring we are not carrying any infectious diseases. Then you take your two stupid forms to the guy down the hall who charges you EC$40 for the pleasure of his company. Then you go up the street to immigration where the 4th guy stamps your passports.

The immigration guy confirms what we thought, you can walk from Sugar Beach up to the Gros Piton hiking centre. Back at the pier, Christy has befriended a local bead vendor (buying beads helps) who tells her the waterfall and volcanic mud baths are a 15 minute walk from town. We’re pretty sure we won’t be paying Jahleel EC$700 for excursions.

We dinghy back to Milu, checking out the landings on Sugar Beach. The resorts look very swanky, would be nice to chill there for a couple of days. (Turns out a 2-bedroom bungalow on the beach goes for US$4300 per night.) At the hotel pier the guys tell us we can park our dinghy at the end of the pier as long as we don’t block the sides. OK. Further down the beach, in the next little bay there are some fishing boats up on shore at the end though this is also part of a resort.

Back on Milu, we do some more research and elect to try and walk up to the Gros Piton hiking trail. We try the second option – the end of the beach by the fishing boats and the security guy tells us no problem, as long as it’s not in the way. A guy from NY helps us drag it up and he says his dream is to do what we’re doing.

We start walking. It’s a concrete paved road, VERY steep and perhaps 2 km to the top. Then we have to go back down again a fair ways where we find the entrance to the Gros Piton hiking trail. The trail starts at 600 ft above sea level, I reckon we climbed to 800 and then back down to 600 to the trail head. My right foot is hurting a fair bit, but only if I twist it a certain way. I try not to twist it that way.

Bingo bango bongo we’ve got Sophia the trail guide, 3 waters and US$100 lighter in our jeans. Christy wasn’t thinking we’d actually climb Gros Piton today, just scope it out for tomorrow but we’re not going back over the top, back down that steep hill only to do it again tomorrow. We’re going up now.

The three of us start the climb just after noon. It’s broken up into 4 sections, with breaks at each quarter point, they’re all about a half hour apart. The first stop you’re supposed to gauge your fitness for the rest of the climb because each stage gets harder. 40% don’t make it past the halfway point. The view from stop #2 is quite spectacular, you can see Petit Piton and the coast line stretching north. The last 2 sections are quite steep, pretty much a steep, slippery staircase all the way to the top. They have handrails almost all the way which makes it much safer. We use them a lot.

The 200 year old Mango tree is stop #3 and we’re both winded and sweating profusely but we’re going to the top. Not going to get beat by two mountains in 3 days. The good thing is this is so steep you know you’re covering height quickly. Sure enough, we scrabble up the last section, the upper dome is actually less steep and we climb up to the top while Sophia waits just below.

The view from the top is … unremarkable. Well it’s spectacular but you can only see the east coast of St. Lucia. Perhaps the most remarkable thing up there is the two cats! Apparently they go up and down, pretty much live up there, the one cat has had a couple litters there. Crazy.

Sophia has been pressing us a bit, we’re the last climbers on the mountain, haven’t seen anyone else since the halfway point. They wouldn’t have let anyone start any later than we did, it gets dark fast. So we head down, it’s faster and easier, but not that much faster. Great care has to be taken. Once past the halfway point the downward trek is much easier and soon enough we exit the trail, about 3 1/2 hours after starting. We stop for 2 more waters, I am very thirsty.

Just gotta walk back to Sugar Beach now! Back up over the saddle, it’s strenuous again and then down, down, down the very steep, very long road to the beach. This is almost the hardest part! Our legs and knees are beat and going downhill this steep requires significant effort.

VERY glad to get down to the flat beach and the dinghy. Oops, left the keys in it. Oh well, pretty safe here – I wouldn’t count on that in Soufriere, one bay over.

Back on Milu we’re both exhausted and wet, dirty, stinky. Dive in the ocean, have a hot shower, relax a bit.

We eat some leftovers, too tired to cook, too tired to move much. My feet are hurting but that’s just from walking/hiking so far in Keens, my right foot is actually OK – the flexing of the hike seemed to help it actually.

Christy crashes and I’m a little behind her. Too tired to brush my teeth. Oddly, I don’t sleep well and am up and down all night.