Trafalgar Falls

On our island tour we hiked to Trafalgar Falls which is an amazing set of waterfalls.  The hike to the vantage point wasn't bad at all, some ups and downs but it probably only took 10 minutes.

The path through the rain forest

Amelia and Carter at the falls

Trafalgar Falls...absolutely gorgeous!

The really fun part was scrambling up the boulders to get to the pools at the base of the waterfalls.  

The boulder field. It was so refreshing to climb through the water. 

Carter and I in the boulder field

Unfortunately the camera did not make it all the way to the base of the waterfall.  I was too worried that it would get smashed, get wet or destroyed by some combination of the two.  It was so much fun climbing but it made me grateful that I am decently flexible from all my yoga.  There were definitely times were I had one leg bent so my knee was basically to my shoulder.  Once we got the base of the waterfall, there was a crystal clear pool of wonderfully cool water.  It was deep enough that you could actually go swimming in it!  Getting down was somewhat painful because I was only wearing a bathing suit.  It resulted in lots of brush burns on my legs. 

After hiking back down from the pool, we went swimming in a sulfur stream which was warmer than air temperature.  Because Dominica is a volcanic island, there are a lot of sulfur springs, streams, etc.  The locals believe in the medicinal quality of them and go soak whenever they have any bruises, strains, arthritis, etc.  I thought it was a little strange to go swimming in water that smelled like rotten eggs but I must admit that my brush burns felt a whole lot better!  

I would strongly recommend this hike to any one who comes to Dominica.  Not only was it absolutely gorgeous, but it was tons of fun as well!