Hiking

Bird Island hike

/ edebock / 8 Comments

With this morning’s hike to Bird Island, we crossed the last item off our Saipan Bucket List today! Yes, we actually did write one! I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything.

Bird Island from the viewpoint

According to the atlas, we’d drive to the end of Bird Island Lane and then hike down to the water’s edge. It didn’t look very far.

Isn’t this where you’d expect Bird Island Lane to begin? Me too. Pretty easy. No yellow shorts this time. The only problem was, there wasn’t a lane there. No road of any kind. There was the beginning of a trail though so we guessed we’d have to walk a little further than we’d anticipated and set off. It was an easy, well marked and mostly level path through the jungle. We knew we were going in the right direction because we could hear the ocean in the distance.

Suddenly, after walking for awhile, we came upon a road! Apparently, Bird Island Lane did exist, just not where the sign said it was! Weird! Sure enough, there was the actual trailhead too.  From that point on, it was a fairly steep descent but, like the trail to Old Man by the Sea, there were ropes to help us down the steep, slippery parts.

Soon, we emerged on the beach. The tide was high so we couldn’t get close to Bird Island itself but we walked the narrow sandy beach from one end to the other, explored a small cave at one end and climbed over rocks at the other. What a beautiful spot!

   

We’re close to the equator here and with the tropical sun beating down on us and it’s heat reflected back at us by the white coral sand, it was really hot on the beach! We cooled off with a dip in the Grotto on our way home. This time we had our masks and snorkels with us so we could actually see the fish and watch the scuba divers deep below. It amazes me that there are lots of people living on the island who have never swam in the Grotto and we’ve been there three times already!

Though this is a tiny island and we’ve explored it pretty extensively, I know that there are still more hikes that could be done and beaches that could be seen. With close to two weeks left, though, we’ve seen and done all the things we most wanted to do which is good because we’ll be busy with Vacation Bible School every day next week. Ministry is, after all, the main reason we’re here!

Oh rats!

/ edebock / 2 Comments

It’s early Friday afternoon and everything is ready for the weekend so what do we do with the rest of this dreary wet day? It’s been raining non stop for about 18 hours! Fortunately, I’ve been keeping a list of things to blog about!

With the exception of birds and sea life, Saipan doesn’t appear to have much in the way of wildlife. What it does have, however, is rats! For a girl from Alberta, Canada’s only rat free province, this was a little disconcerting but I quickly got used to seeing the occasional rat scurry across the porch. They weren’t as big and ugly as I expected them to be but when I discovered that they were raiding the cat’s dish I decided to take action. I started bringing the dish into the house after the cat had her morning meal. That seems to have taken care of the problem. I haven’t seen a rat for awhile and the kitty has learned to wait patiently at the door every morning for me to bring her her food.

Though we’re not willing to share the porch with the rats, we’re quite happy to share it with the geckos. After all, these cute little lizards eat insects and they’re really quite fascinating. They actually have adhesive feet that allow them to walk across the ceiling or scurry up a pane of glass! And did you know that geckos chirp? I didn’t. Geckos are nocturnal so we rarely see them until after sunset. I’d noticed the occasional loud chirp in the evenings but it took awhile for me to realize that it might be coming from these tiny critters. Sure enough, according to Wikipedia, geckos are unique amongst lizards in their ability to vocalize. Apparently, they make these chirping sounds to interact with other geckos. If you want to hear what they sound like, click here.

It’s kind of nice when we’re hiking through the jungle to know that we’re not going to round a corner and come face to face with a bear as we might in the Canadian wilds. I suppose a tiger or a leopard might be more fitting but they aren’t here either. In fact, there aren’t even any dangerous snakes. There’s actually a program that actively works to keep the the island snake free, much like Alberta’s rat control program. If you see a snake, you’re supposed to kill it then immediately call 28-SNAKE! Hmm… I hope I don’t see one. I’m not really up on the best way to kill a snake!

By far the biggest animal control issue on the island is the stray dogs. According to a recent survey there are an estimated 10 000 to 20 000 of them and the number continues to increase! The municipality has recently introduced a licensing program for dogs and already pet owners have registered approximately 1000 of them. Apparently, the revenue generated will be use to build a permanent animal shelter but clearly it won’t be able to house the thousands of unwanted animals that wander the streets. Sad.

When all else fails…

/ edebock / 5 Comments

You know the old saying “When all else fails, read the instructions.”  After today’s experience, we might say “When all else fails, pay close attention to the instructions!”

Hiking to the Old Man By the Sea was on our list of things to do but we weren’t sure how to get there. We’d been up the right road but hadn’t seen any signs or indications that there was a trail in the area. When we saw Brian at the street market on Thursday evening, we asked him about it. He’d hiked to the Dry Grotto with us so we thought he might know the way. That’s easy, he told us; someone hung a pair of yellow shorts on a tree to mark the way! When he and his wife, Rachel, heard that we’d already hiked to Forbidden Island, they assured us that the Old Man hike was much shorter and easier.

When this morning’s rain turned to sunshine, we decided to try the hike this afternoon. Just to be sure we knew where we were going, I decided to check the atlas. It showed San Ignacio Drive leading to the shore close to the Old Man By the Sea so I kept that in mind and off we went. We passed the yellow shorts and sure enough, there was San Ignacio Drive just a short distance up the road. San Ignacio Drive is a rather pretentious name for what was little more than a path! We were glad we’d taken the vehicle with 4 wheel drive!

At the end of the road, we came to a clearing, parked the vehicle and began to look for the trailhead. There was nothing obvious but we found what we thought might be the trail and followed it. Almost immediately, we could hear the thunderous sound of waves crashing far below us and we soon came to the edge of a precipice. This is what we saw:

We skirted along the edge of the drop off and continued to follow what we hoped was our trail. Soon it began to descend steeply. Richard went ahead to see if this really was the right way while I stood on top of the world, or so it seemed, and enjoyed the spectacular view.

I was pretty sure that the little beach at the right was where we wanted to be but could we get there from here? Richard returned and said that he thought this was probably the trail so we began our climb down steep rugged rock. Could this really be the way? It certainly wasn’t easier than the hike to Forbidden Island. On we went, though. Soon we could see what I was sure was the back side of the Old Man. There he is, the hump in the centre of the picture.

Unfortunately, though our destination was now clearly in sight, we came to the edge of a cliff and had to admit that we definitely weren’t on the right trail. Feeling a bit discouraged but also glad that we’d seen the amazing sights along the way, we returned to the vehicle thinking that perhaps we’d have to call Brian and see if he’d come with us next time.

As we headed back up San Ignacio Drive toward the main road, a thought struck me. What if we weren’t supposed to be on San Ignacio at all? What if the trail actually started right where the yellow shorts were hanging? Sure enough, when we got back to that spot, there was another vehicle parked at the side of the road and close inspection revealed an easy path leading into the bush! It couldn’t be seen from a vehicle passing by but it was there!

There were even ropes to help us up and down a few steep slippery spots.

When we emerged from the jungle, there he was, the Old Man By the Sea silently surveying his domain!

What an amazing formation!

The little beach was strewn with litter; everything from toothbrushes to toys! Shoes without partners were abundant. These weren’t things left behind by careless hikers but had washed up on shore after riding the waves from who knows where.

As we explored, we even found this and took a photo for Nathan, our cave loving son. Like most of the caves on the island, it isn’t very deep but it’s probably provided shelter for more than one unlucky hiker caught in a storm.

I could have stayed a long time watching the waves crash against the shore but soon it was time to go. After all, it gets dark early on Saipan and it wouldn’t be a good idea to be caught out on the trail after sundown.

There’s still at least one more hike we want to do while we’re on the island. I hope that one’s not as difficult to find and if we have to ask for directions, we’d better follow them more carefully!

Hike to Forbidden Island

/ edebock / 3 Comments

Yesterday’s long walk was a good warm up for this morning’s hike to Forbidden Island. Hiking in Saipan’s high heat and humidity can be pretty draining but it’s well worth it. The views are so spectacular!

Forbidden Island from the viewpoint

The sign at the trailhead, a short distance from the viewpoint, called this a strenuous hike and said that it would take 45 minutes in each direction. It was a fairly steep climb down through the bushes, across a ridge and down a dry watercourse but the only reason it actually took us 45 minutes is because we stopped so often to enjoy the views and take pictures. I’m super glad that I bought a brand new pair of Merrell walking/hiking shoes just before we left Canada and brought them with me. They’re really comfortable and I feel as sure footed as a mountain goat wearing them.

 

   

Woohoo! We made it!

When we got to the bottom, the tide was out and we enjoyed exploring the tidal pools. They were full of all sorts of sea life including lots of tiny vibrant blue fish.

  

Richard found some stepping stones and crossed over to the island. I told him that if the tide came in and he was stranded, I’d come back for him tomorrow! I took my shoes, socks and pants off and went wading in one of the larger pools but I didn’t let him take any pictures of that!

Can you see him?

We even saw a hoodoo.

Eventually, it was time to climb back up to the top. Though we had to stop from time to time to catch our breath and the sweat was dripping off us by the time we got there, it only took us about 25 minutes! Boy, were we happy to climb into an air conditioned car when we got there!

Never too old

/ edebock / 3 Comments

My 87 year old aunt lost her husband and lifelong hiking partner six years ago but that didn’t stop her. Hip replacement surgery following a fall in an icy crosswalk three and a half years ago slowed her down for awhile but it didn’t stop her either. She still loves to get out on the trails surrounding her home community of Jasper here in Alberta’s majestic Rocky Mountains.

We spent this afternoon hiking together. She doesn’t move as quickly as she once did but with walking poles in hand, she took the lead and set a steady pace. “Look at this!” she’d say as she named the various wildflowers beside the path and pointed out other interesting features along the way. At one point, we left the main trail to explore the remains of an old log cabin that she knew was hidden in the bush.

Sharing the trail with Auntie Norma and surrounded by mountains, sky, river and forest, it was truly a beautiful afternoon. The sky was overcast and the day was comfortably cool. A few spits of rain toward the end of our hike did nothing to dampen our spirits.

   

The only wildlife we encountered were birds and mosquitoes but there was no doubt that a bear had been that way sometime recently. I’m quite happy that we didn’t meet!

   

We hiked over four kilometres before returning to the car and coming back to town. I thought perhaps that would have worn Auntie Norma out but she’s as chipper as ever this evening. I definitely want to be her when I grow up!