The Hike to Mt. Alava

One of the most enjoyable things to do on our island is to hike through the National Park to the top of Mt. Alava so I knew this was one of the things I wanted to experience with my parents. We have done this trek many times, including a recent backpacking trip. After a 3.6 mile hike, predominately uphill in the hot, humid jungle, you are rewarded with amazing views (the panoramic banner across the top of the blog was taken from Mt. Alava's peak).

Emma was not too excited by the prospect of climbing up the mountain again, especially since we just did it two weeks ago. To motivate her, I remembered a nature scavenger hunt that I had tucked away. The checklist was developed by the educators at CPAWS (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society), the nonprofit that I worked for while we lived in Calgary. Although designed for the Canadian Rockies ecosystem, the list was fairly transferable to the tropical rainforest of Samoa. Only a couple of the items had to be altered, like changing "something that helps a robin" to "something that helps a fruit bat." Emma walked along with her notebook and pen, checking things off as she went. Among other things, the list called for her to find something she disliked and also something she found interesting. Emma did not like the scratchy plants, but she found the clay, mud, and birds interesting.

I'm not sure how interesting the mud was, but it was prevalent. In many spots on the trail, there was almost no choice but to walk through the mud. We were all very muddy, in fact my mom claimed that it was the dirtiest she had ever been. After completing the scavenger hunt, Emma continued to entertain herself. A highlight was stirring the mud with her walking stick. Emma also made up many lovely songs about her surroundings. My personal favorite was a catchy number about the swiftlets.

Throughout the hike my parents were happy to have their personal Park Ranger along. Paul answered questions about the local flora and fauna. My dad was impressed with the giant taro growing along the trail since some of the leaves are over 6 feet long. Paul also assisted my mom in her bird watching, although she arrived on the island thoroughly prepared. She had been studying from the bird book we mailed her for Christmas. My mom added two more life birds: the wattled honeyeater and the purple-capped fruit dove. Lorna is now up to 12 life birds on this island and 23 total with Hawaii included (we have some of the same species of birds so my mom saw them first in Hawaii). We saw about a dozen white-tailed tropicbirds. I will never tire of these birds with their long streaming tails. Their white coloring is so striking as they glide over the green jungle below.

We intended to eat lunch at the top of the mountain, but our hunger set in before. We stopped along the trail and Paul "chopped" down banana leaves with his Swiss Army knife for us to sit on. This was a departure from our usual approach of sitting in the dirt so I felt quite pampered on my banana leaf seat.

The hike ends with a short, metal staircase to the peak that I was afraid would prove too much for my height-fearing mom. I have to report, especially to my brothers, that Mom was fearless as she climbed the stairs. She continued to impress me as she even got onto the rickety wooden viewing platform.

It was a perfect day to be on Mt. Alava. There was a bit of a breeze and the sky was a bit overcast giving us a break from the sun. It is fun to stand on the top and try to find all the buildings and places that we recognize. It is especially cool that you can see the coral reef from so far away. The peak seen in the picture to the left is Rainmaker Mountain, my favorite one on the island.

Mt. Alava serves as the broadcast center for the local tv and radio stations. There are a couple of towers and buildings on the top, including a short railway with a cart for getting equipment up the last hill where we climbed the stairs. Emma showed her muscles by pushing her Grandpa along.

After enjoying the views we headed back down. Although it is progressively down, the hike down has almost as many inclines as the hike to the peak. It is amazing to look at this picture and see the ridgeline that we hiked on.

The total distance of our hike was 7.2 miles, with a total time of 7 hours. As Emma pointed out, we traveled at 1 mile per hour. That doesn't make us sound so tough, but even without all our stops, hiking up a mountain is slow going in the tropics. How I long for a nice cool hike in the Northern woods again.