Into the Crater

At the end of the term, Luke's sister Bekah flew down to St. Vincent to visit for a little over a week! We rented a car and did a lot of exploring. One day we hiked the volcano, La Soufriere. It was my third time hiking the 4,048 foot active volcano, but it was my first time hiking into the crater!
We woke up early and drove up the windward side of the island to get to the trailhead. We brought some friends along, so we had a good group. The weather was cooler, which was wonderful for hiking. The first part of the hike is through a rainforest, so usually it is really hot and humid. The foliage is so dense that there isn't even a breeze. We were so grateful for the cooler weather, but when we hiked above the foliage, it was very foggy. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to see the crater, but the wind was blowing so strong that it it blew the fog out of the way long enough to see into the crater at times.
Just the hike to the top is difficult enough, but this time, we had to hike around the crater's edge to reach the trail into the crater. It took longer than we thought. I crouched down a few times on the trail because the wind was so strong that I felt as if I was going to fall over. 

All smiles before the hike

Hiking through the rainforest


Getting close to the top

The crater is behind us, but it is too foggy to see.

On the trail around the crater

The trail into the crater looked pretty scary at first. There are ropes down the side that you can hold onto to help lower yourself. Some of the stakes that the ropes were attached to looked pretty rusty and moved when we pulled on the ropes, but thankfully, they held. There were a few times I had to hang onto the rope and hope my feet found a place, but we made it safely down.

About to hike into the crater, wearing our gloves to protect our hands from the ropes

The white area in the background is the smoking crater

As dangerous as that rusty metal looks, it was actually pretty sturdy.

The sulfur smell was pretty strong, especially as we hiked closer to the rocks that had steam coming out. We climbed up on those rocks. The sulfur smelling steam felt hot on our skin. I found an area where the steam was coming out of the rocks, and I tried to see down into it. I couldn't see anything, but I did slightly burn my finger on the steam. We took a few photos and walked around in the crater before beginning our ascent.

My friend Jen and I with the smoking crater behind us




Standing on the smoking rocks. They were so hot!


We needed to use the ropes for part of the ascent, but since there were almost steps to the left of the trail, it was faster and easier to just crawl up. We rested at the top and ate some snacks before we began the hike back around the crater and down the volcano. It started to rain on the way down, but thankfully we were in the dense foliage, so we didn't get too wet. We were exhausted after our hike, but I'm so grateful we were able to experience another amazing adventure!

Hiking up using the "steps"






Can you tell this is the "after" picture? So tired!


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