Hiking St. John - in the Tracks of the Trail Bandit

[Amicus]

We've enjoyed all of the Caribbean islands we've been fortunate to visit over the decades, but hiking has never been high on the list of activities. Until now, a few hikes through the El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico and one trek into the rainforest of St. Lucia's highlands had been about it, out of dozens of trips.

St. John is different. V.I. National Park comprises the majority of its 20 square miles and the NPS maintains trails throughout its length, most of which begin, end or both in one of the beautiful Bays, with their champagne sand, that seem to cover the entire perimeter of the Island.

We stayed in the principal "city" - Cruz Bay at the west end, accessed by a short ferry-ride from Red Hook on St. Thomas (where the airplanes go). This is now my favorite town in the Caribbean - a gem of a harbor far too small for cruise ships, on an island without an airport. Downtown is about three square blocks, but chock-full of fun bars and fine restaurants, from haute cuisine to cheap and funky.

We rented a Jeep for three days, so I could explore some of the trails away from Cruz Bay. Driving there is a real adventure. The narrow roads twist and turn dizzyingly, with some hairpins that defy belief, over the highlands that rise from the coasts. There are livestock to be avoided here and there, and the driving is on the left. That is par for the Caribbean (and Ireland), but here the steering wheels are also on the left, just as in the US (since these are the USVIs), for an added twist. After my bowels stopped squirming, I found this fun, but not everyone would.

The NPS distributes a rather sketchy trail map of the Island, and a few of the most popular Trails, such as Cinnamon Bay and Reef Bay, have trailhead map displays with added detail. By far the best maps, however, are by Bob "Trail Bandit" Garrison, which I discovered late in the week, in an excellent, beautifully illustrated paperback, St. John - Off the Beaten Track, by Gerald Singer, that I would recommend to anyone planning a trip there. I see now that Trail Bandit's map is also on the Internet.

I now learn, from an interview in the Dec. 2007 issue of Backpacker, that the Trail Bandit, a wealthy, 65-year old retired physicist, is a resident of New Hampshire who also does some trailwork there. In fact, his next project is the Banana Trail, an old one from the SE to the summit of Mt. Shaw in the Ossipee Range that I've been planning to hike myself. Small world!


More details on my hikes, including photos, can be found at SmugMug, where I imagine some might prefer to go straight to the Slideshow.

I won't soon forget hiking the lush and shady trails over these gorgeous highlands, scented by turpentine, bay rum and lime trees and who knows how many other tropical effusions. Snow is great, but it isn't everything.

 

[marty]

Nice trip and pix! Yeah, sometimes you do need to escape from the snow.

We visited St. Croix a few years ago. The driving was just about the same, but it looks like St. John's is much less developed and a bit more mountainous. The hiking was pretty good there, as long as you bring poles or high gaiters to fend off the endless pricker bushes.

I tried to arrange a trip to St. John's to do some hiking, but was outvoted 5 to 1 to rent a catamaran & guide and go sailing.

Glad you had a fine trip.

Regards,
Marty

 

[Amicus]

We visited St. Croix a few years ago. The hiking was pretty good there, as long as you bring poles or high gaiters to fend off the endless pricker bushes.

There were cacti and some other thorny plants along some stretches of trail, and for that reason I wore long (but synthetic and very lightweight) pants. They worked fine - while the temps were mid-80s, the trails were generally shady and comfortable.

... it looks like St. John's is much less developed ...

I haven't been to St. Croix, but I'm sure that's so. Over 100 Danish sugar and cotton plantations covered St. John in the early 1800s, but over the course of that century those industries collapsed, with the last sugar mill closing down in 1916. By then, the white colonists had left, and the population through the 1950s was less than 1,000 people - nearly all descendants of slaves, who made a living from subsistence farming, fishing and small-scale manufacture of bay rum (once a popular after-shave).

Laurence Rockefeller "discovered" St. John while sailing in 1952, fell in love with its unspoiled beauty and bought a huge chunk of it, cheap. He later donated that to the US, and it formed the nucleus of V.I. National Park.

So, St. John is hiker's Mecca in the Caribbean (and must be one of the few islands with campgrounds).

 

[KayakDan]

I just got back from BVI and we did some unplanned hiking on Virgin Gorda. I was amazed to see such dry,desert like conditions,with all the cactus.

There are a few campsites right on the beach in White Bay,on Jost van Dyke. $20 bucks a nite to camp in paradise-and conveniently located a short walk down the beach from the Soggy Dollar Bar!

 

[Amicus]

I was amazed to see such dry,desert like conditions,with all the cactus.

Of the trails I hiked, the lower stretches tended to be dryer, with cactuses and the like, but the higher elevations were lush - not rainforest, but close in some places (esp. on the Cinnamon and Reef Bay Trails).

We were gazing at Jost Van Dyke all week, as it dominates the view from the north shore. We didn't get over there, but heard good things about the Soggy Dollar Bar, which has quite a rep.

 

[Gris]

I've spent some time there, both as a land lubber and sailing

and my brother and i pretty much explored every inch of the island over the years. we even rode out hurricane David there in 1980. Cruz bay is THE spot durting a blow as all the boats for hundreds of miels make a bee-line there, raft up and have a huge party whilst the storm blows them back and forth into the mangroves.

did you hit the buffet at Caneel? maybe best eats i ever had... ;-) But, our favorite spot way Mayo bay. The extreme south end of the island used to be remote, unihabited, desolate and cool too. Used to have some pretty good musicians in Cruz Bay in the old days.

ahhhhh, memories

 

[dms]

Great timing on this report, as I am heading there next week for 10 days. Seeing the pics just wets my appetite, great hiking and snorkeling. My favorite loop hike is down Reef Bay then up Bordeaux Mountain Trail and then road walk back to the jeep. There are some great "abandoned" trails out near Coral Bay, out to some totally non tourist beaches where you can enjoy some solitude. There is a bw route to the summit of Bordeaux, and I plan to put a register up this year! Thanks for the report Amicus!

 

[Amicus]

We didn't think about dining at the posh Caneel Bay Resort, but I hiked through there, connecting ends of the Lind Point and Caneel Hill Trails, on a loop from our Cruz Bay rental condo. In my sweaty hiker attire, I thought I might be lowering the tone, but nobody hassled me.

For dining, we had great luck with restaurants within a five-minute walk, right in Cruz Bay - fine dinners at Lime Inn, La Tapa, Stone Terrace, ZoZo's (twice) and Waterfront Bistro. No duds, and that's an excellent batting average anywhere.

St. John knocked us out, and we're already talking about a return - in two years, if the Fates allow. If that happens, I'll be looking for dms's register on top of Bordeaux Mt.

 

[Gris]

Tortola is cool too. I have some friend/clients who have a house there.

 

[ADKnBVI]

Great timing!

Oh my! We'll be headed to St John in May for our 15th wedding anniversary! After looking at your pictures, I'm not sure I'll survive until May. We haven't been there since our honeymoon and just can't wait to get back.

We've already been in contact with the Trail Bandit and got his map and his advice on which trails warrant special attention. Tim insists that we're going to stay "fit" during this vacation... I guess no lying on the beach for me.

Thank you so much for the pictures!
Valerie

(And the BVI in my nickname is for the British Virgin Islands because our last couple trips to the Caribbean have been to Virgin Gorda, which we also love!)

 

[Amicus]

We'll be headed to St John in May for our 15th wedding anniversary!

Happy anniversary! I'd be interested in hearing about the trails specially recommended by the Trail Bandit, if you get to hike them. I don't see any inconsistency between daily hikes and basking on those beautiful beaches, by the way. St. John is a mere 20 sq. miles and there is no trail or loop you can't complete in a long morning.

 

[dms]

I just got back from St. John. Some great hiking on virtually unused trails. There is now a summit register on the island's high point, Bordeaux Mtn. But be careful in approaching the register, it is guarded by several of these ladies! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver

 

[Amicus]

. . . be careful in approaching the register, it is guarded by several of these ladies! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver

I believe I photographed one of them, with her striking web, near the top of the Reef Bay Trail one morning.

I'll make a point of summiting Bordeaux Mt. (carefully), if we return in 2010, as we hope.

 

[dms]

Nice picture! That is the same spider! One other thing that I saw for the first time in 14 years of going to St. John is a few white tail deer, I can't imagine how they got there, a long swim for sure.

 

[bobandgeri]

One other thing that I saw for the first time in 14 years of going to St. John is a few white tail deer, I can't imagine how they got there, a long swim for sure.

When we were there last May, we saw deer in several locations on the eastern half of the island including Lameshur Bay, Leinster Bay, and Reef Bay. Can't wait to go back!

 

[Amicus]

One other thing that I saw for the first time in 14 years of going to St. John is a few white tail deer, I can't imagine how they got there, a long swim for sure.

That's funny. A pair of whitetails startled my wife and I near the beginning of the Lind Point Trail, just north of Cruz Bay, crossing the trail less than 10 feet in front of us. (A furry little brown mammal was scurrying along with - or chasing? - them. A mongoose?)

The National Park Center is right there, so I asked a Ranger about them afterwards. She said they are the remnant of a herd introduced by planters in the 19th Century, for hunting. She also mentioned that they have no fear of humans, are becoming more numerous and that the Service had plans to "do something" about them.

 

[dms]

The deer are very unafraid of humans, my friend and I stood no more than 6 feet from them as they browsed for dinner, they barely looked at us. "Do something" is quite easy to imagine!

 

[Gris]

oh yeah, i almost forgot

This thread is bringing back good memories. One of the enduring images I have of St. John was my brother and I laughing like madmen at an upscale open air cafe, watching a very staid island waiter in his white pressed coat trying to keep his composure and dignity whilst serving breakfast pastries as two Mongoose (Mongeese?) wrought havoc, stealing whole Danishes from a silver serving cart every time the waiter turned to attend to patrons. The scene would been a runaway winner of 'funniest home videos' had we had a camcorder..