You can now discover the other Caribbean on Dominica's new long trial. But should you?
The rumble coming from somewhere off in the rainforest should cue me to trouble. I’m hiking toward 275-foot Middleham Falls, the tallest cascade on the Caribbean island of Dominica, and I expect to see what I’d previewed in photos: A gauzy, decorative ribbon trickling into the kind of pool where tropical maidens in shampoo commercials lather their hair. I’d imagined taking a dip myself, if only to wash away the grime of my third day on the Waitukubuli National Trail (WNT), a new 115-mile path that runs the length of the island and links hot springs, rainforests, cliff-rimmed beaches, and waterfalls. But recent rains have turned the normally tame Middleham into a neck-snapping fire hose.
Bullets of mist sting my eyes when I try to lo ok into the white cloud swirling before me. My companions—two Dominicans serving as unofficial guides, plus a photographer— ham it up with a few “storm-pummeled newsman” routines, then we all start hiking back along the spur trail toward the WNT. Only now, there’s a brand-new waterfall raging across our route.
“We’re cut off!” shouts Michael Eugene, the WNT’s bespectacled guidebook author who talks like a scholar but hikes like an Ironman (he’s personally walked every mile of trail in his native land). He’s visibly rattled, and I make a conscious effort to slow my breathing as I realize our situation could turn dire: With a Niagara right behind us and its mini-me ahead, what’s to say they won’t merge into an even bigger flood pouring down where we now stand? We need to get out of here, pronto.
この記事は Backpacker の February/March 2016 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は Backpacker の February/March 2016 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
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