So what's all this hype about climbing the highest peak in the Caribbean and exactly where is it? Well, it's called Pico Duarte and located in the Dominican Republic. The peak is over 3,000 meters high and provides a challenging climb with a beautiful payoff.
We started at the base with the sunrise. Starting the day bright and early is a must. It rains almost daily on the mountain and you don't want to get stuck climbing way up there while it's pouring rain.
The first hours of the hike are pretty simple. The path only has a slight incline and the scenery is beautiful. There are streams, as well as rivers, constantly crossing the path and you are fresh. Fresh legs, fresh mindset, one hundred percent fresh. That will all quickly change though.
Once you pass the first part of the hike the landscape changes considerably, and so does the level of the hike. From the base to the top we must have changed landscapes four to five times and the hike only gets harder. Put into perspective it's like doing stair masters at the gym, walking up and down stairs, for about six hours on loose terrain.
Any climber knows that a six hour hike up steep and loose terrain is taxing on the body. Especially for people who are amateur hikers.
About five hours into our hike we notice that we're surrounded by fog, only it's not fog, we were actually in a cloud! Yup, that high up you simply cross through the clouds. It's great though because it really cools you down. That is, unless it starts to rain, then things get a little too cold. Especially if you're not prepared. I mean you're climbing a mountain in the Caribbean, how cold could it possibly get? Well to answer that simply, COLD.
We didn't go prepared at all. We had light weather proof gear but that was quickly drenched and of no use. We had about two to three hours left before we made it to the checkpoint. Walking in a cloud is cool and all but remember that lightning is very prevalent in that kind of atmosphere. At one point in the hike a lightning bolt struck right in between our group. Half of us in front of the strike and the other half behind it watching it happen before their eyes. Then another one off to our left. At this point I threw my metal tripod in my bag and hoped that it wouldn't attract any attention in there.
By now we're all freezing. We start walking as fast as we can to warm up our bodies. If we stop, we freeze, literally. It was so cold that you could easily die if you don't maintain your body temperature at a reasonable level. But we brushed that off, we knew we would make it and we did. It was tough but we made it.
Finally at base camp we all run by the fire that the earlier half of the group had started. The only problem was that all of our clothes was soaked! The guides didn't have any rain protection on our gear so ALL of our clothing was drenched. The temperature was dropping and things started to look pretty grim. No worries though because at this point we have fire, and fire is life.
A few hours later into the night we managed to get enough clothing dry to make it through the night, barely. We all woke up multiple times in the middle of the night to tend the dying fire and just because it was so cold that our bodies would wake us up and tell us to do something about the low temperature.
The next morning we awake before the sun rises to finish the hike. After all we hadn't made it to the peak yet and that was the point, make it to the top to watch the sunrise. So off we went in the wee morning hours, pitch black, with mules, gear and cold to the top of the mountain.
We finally made it and it was truly a spectacular site to see the sun rising over endless mountain lines. We hung out on the top for a couple of hours and then proceeded to head back down to base camp where we would spend the next couple of days relaxing and being at peace at the top of the Caribbean.
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