Hiking Virgin Gorda Peak National Park - British Virgin Islands

View of the North Sound from the Gorda Peak platform

   One of the first things we did when we arrived on Virgin Gorda wasn't actually kayaking in the crystal clear blue waters. It wasn't snorkeling in the spectacular reefs or relaxing by the pool. It was hiking through the forest. A forest that felt like a hot, humid, jungle. Not to mention we had to drive up (and down) a scary winding road to get there.
   When I first looked at a map of Virgin Gorda I thought, well, we've got to hike up to the highest point on the island, the summit of Gorda Peak (1370 ft). I had heard they have the world's smallest gecko here (so small I didn't see any) and a great viewpoint platform at the top. 
   The trail seemed nice and groomed at first but quickly turned into a stream bed, which had us saying often, "Are we really still on the trail right now?"

   We did meet some amazing friends along the way, orb spiders and tons of cacti...brought here from Mexico back in the day - they're everywhere on the islands.

She's a bute.

  We made it to the top (it did take about 50 minutes like the sign said). It was a little overcast so the view wasn't all that it could of been - I've heard on a super clear day you can see St. Thomas far in the distance.

Have a picnic...in a swamp!

The lookout platform

A view of the North Sound

   The drive back down to the Valley had some almost-as-good-viewpoints and room to pull off the crazy road and park.

Spanish Town in the distance

To the Jimmy to take us back down the mountain!

All and all a good little hike/trip. You would definitely need a car to make this happen - although the cab guys are so nice here they'd probably take you and come back and get you later after the hike if you had a cell phone to call them. The view from the actual platform wasn't that stunning compared to view from the drive there but it was fun to see some insect wildlife and search for the super tiny geckos!

   ~Paul, Ann, Jon   ETC

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Hugging small cars in the islands, kinda my thing