Cattlewash Camping Trip

Went camping this weekend with my dad, brother, some cousins and their dad, and a couple other people. We drove down to Cattlewash early on Friday afternoon to pitch our tents in a neat sheltered area just off the main road and spent the afternoon chilling out on the beach playing football. I was a bit sick with a URT Infection so I ended up spending a lot of the time chilling in the hammock we brought and reading Emperor: Death of Kings by Conn Iggulden (great series, great author...). When the sun dropped behind the hills we had our lanterns out with the cd player blaring rock music from my parents' era, sippin on wine / baileys and all-around chillin 'out.

After a long night of high winds and sheet rain, during which my brother and his friend's tent got blown down around them, soaking them and the tent and causing them to retreat to my dad's grand vitara for the rest of the night, my dad's other brother Bruce and his posse showed up bright and early in his Land Rover with french toast applenty! Unfortunately they couldn't stay, because it was his wife's birthday (we forgot when planning the trip!!). The rest of our group also showed up and we were off to hike up through the hills of the Scotland District National Park, which gets its name from the fact that certain areas look like the Highlands.

We spent about 3 hours total on the whole trip, hiking up the southern side of the Mount, having to search for the trail we normally use as it had overgrown through lack of use. Normally the route takes us on a brisk walk along the side of the slope, meandering up to a hill-crest that we then follow around to the top of Chalky Mt. After that it is just a quick climb up through gaps in the rock to the top. The geology of the area is really neat, the whole range was uplifted in some kind of massive geological event millenia ago, and the crust that formed it is alternating layers of chalk and some kind of high ferrous content volcanic (maybe?) rock. Since then the chalk has eroded away much faster than the other rock, leaving the ridges that we walk along, the hills and mountains themselves, and lots of small run-off created valleys. On top of all of this is also a layer of the very clay-ey "soil" that is typical of the area.

Normally, the descent is a quick reverse of the route up, with a semi-jog down the fairly steep, rambling slope of the base. When we were at the top, however, we decided to do something different and do the descent on the steeper northern side of the Mount and pop over to Windy Hill to look for salt crystals on the hill my dad's family used to own. This was a bit more tricky of a descent and involved an almost vertical climb down the face of the rock, but still safe enough for your average hiker avec guide. Case in point: my cousins and I used to run amok around the hills at Windy Hill when we were probably about 6 or 8, and all of the kids in my family (including me obviously...) have been up to the Chalky Mount Summit at the tender age of 3. On this occasion one of the kids with us was 10, and he got down fine (although he had to be helped in some areas...). After the initial descent, the rest of the way down essentially involves following the crests in the hills all the way down to the coast, using the trees and other vegetation as handholds to climb down the steeper sections.

All in all, it was a great day and lots of fun all around! Only a few minor injuries, not unexpected due to the nature of the hike. Nobody was hurt badly and we all had a blast! Anyone who visits Barbados, I would definitely recommend this hike. Unfortunately (or fortunately...) I don't think there are any guided tours, so you would have to find the route for yourself or maybe give me a call and convince my dad and I to show you the way ;)

Full album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10880&l=9cb5a&id=501494043

Rating:
Difficulty: Medium to Difficult - no marked trail, majority of the route is a combination of climbing / hiking with some parts requiring you to scale short sections of cliff face.
View: AMAZING. You can see the entire East Coast from the summit, really breathtaking.
Recommendation: Find someone who knows the area (and who you can trust...) to take you if you plan to do this hike, or at very least to explain the route. There is no marked trail so it would be easy to get stuck and not know where to go. There are no companies in Barbados that do this (that I know of) so you might have to wing-it, but its worth it when you get to the top.