Dominica Part 2: The Boiling Lake Hike

Today we completed a hike we've been looking forward to for some time...the hike to the Valley of Desolation and the Boiling Lake.  We think that a lot of the hype has to do with the name - if it were named "The Valley of Rainbows and the Sunshine Lake," it might not get as much attention.  

Either way, we hit the trail early, and made good time along the track.  After some gentle incline, we came to a river, and then started climbing steeply for another hour to the summit of a peak along the track.

From the summit, we descended into the Valley of Desolation, which is a neat geothermal area featuring near-boiling river water, sulphur deposits, and general geological wonders.  We followed the river valley east until one last climb brought us to the Boiling Lake itself.

The Boiling Lake is the second largest in the world - in fact our resident Boiling Lake Expert, Heather, has been to the world's largest on the North Island of New Zealand, and was pleased to report that this one was "neater."

After lunch at the lake of brownies and homemade bread, we retraced our track down to the river valley, up into the Valley of Desolation, up to the summit of the peak, down to the river, and gently back to the trailhead.

Luckily, at the trailhead is a really cool flooded slot canyon called Titou Gorge - it felt wonderful to take the plunge after a 5 hour hike.

All in all it was a great, but wet, day of hiking in a place that reminds you how active the earth still is.