Mount 'Alava :-)

Within the National Park of American Samoa Day Hikes brochure, you find the Mount 'Alava Adventure Trail listed as a challenging trail. It reads:

"This challenging loop trail takes you along ridgelines with views of the north and central parts of the national park and island. Hike up and down "ladders" or steps with ropes for balance. There are a total of 56 ladders and 783 steps! The trail leads to the Mount 'Alava Summit, returning down another steep section of trail to Vatia Village, and loops back along the road to the trailhead."

This was the planned adventure with 5 of my fellow volunteers for our President's Day Holiday - climbing 1600 feet. :-) The 5 of us met up at Matai Restaurant in Fagatago for breakfast before our hike. Then, we hitched a ride in the back of a pickup truck part of the way. Started walking up the mountain toward Vatia and hitched another ride all the way down into the village, where our hike began.

I think we ended up hiking up the "down" part of the loop it mentions. So, we did not hit all 56 ladders and 783 steps, as we decided to take the other trail available along the ridge to the Fagasa Pass, which doesn't have the big change in elevation. We might do the whole adventure loop another time. We decided it might be easier to hitch out of that side and decided we could swim in Vatia another day. It sure was muddy on that side, though. Gradual descent, more like a tunnel walking through trees with minimal view points along the way, and it was a road workers use to the top where there are some cell towers. We actually saw some guys working at the top. Anyways...

Here is an example of one of the "ladders" the brochure is talking about. Some aren't quite so vertical and more of a slope - some up and some down. We definitely worked our calves on the first stretch of the trail before hitting the "ladders" and steps. It didn't end up seeming as strenous to me as I imagined, but it was a really great hike! I found myself thinking, "Thank you Shaun T for all those mountain climbers preparing me for this." haha

Here is a nice view of Pola Island off toward the right side of this photo, through the mountains. I hiked up through those mountains once with a group down toward Pola Island. Vatia Bay is in the bottom right hand corner.

Once you reach the summit, you find yourself at a little fale. We took a group photo after our successful climb up the Adventure Trail. Check.

There is a little visitors' book sitting in this fale, where we all signed on a page together. One of the guys wrote, "While you hike the mountain, battle the mountain with your body. Battle your mind with your mind." Cool quote.

A nice view of Fagasa Bay on the Northside from the top of the Summit. This is ridge that we walked back down. The less eventful side to climb or hike.

Structures at the summit that I was having fun taking some photos of in addition to my landscape shots.

This is Pago Pago Harbor, and it was really cool to see it from this perspective. You can see how they filled in part of the harbor with dirt making those fields you see.

I liked this photo I took of my friends looking out from the viewpoint.

That is Matafoa in the background, and we are discussing hiking up that one one of these days. It's the more picturesque mountain to view. Maybe I'll get to see what it's like from up there.

I kept playing around again with some photos while we chilled and chatted at the summit.

We took a no-smile group photo at the summit. By 2pm we had hiked a 1600 foot mountain over 7 miles in about 4 hours. Yeah, we did :-) Pictured from L-R: Sam, Dan, Melanie, Jill, Josh, and yours truly.

When we came off the ridge in the Fagasa Pass, a pickup came by, backed up, and offered us a ride down the mountain to Pago Pago. Then, we hitched a ride in a van to Gatavai for homemade ice cream at Samu's. This isn't the greatest photo, but the tallest point in the background is the Mount 'Alava Summit. Our hike began on the backside of the mountain, where we climbed mostly straight up the Adventure Trail and then down along that ridge to the left. My idea was to show you my little treat of almond coffee crunch ice cream after the adventure and accomplishment for the day that you see in the background.

This was a real hike, and I am glad I went. A good group of people, and a great experience. I also felt like I was in pretty decent shape. Sweated up a storm as it is humid, as did everyone else on our way up, but didn't find myself strongly short of breath much. Kept a going and enjoyed every minute of it.

Back to work I go tomorrow. By the way, one of my friends counted, and I officially have only 14 weeks before I make a flight to Nebraska. Just 14 weeks. That means only 14 more Saturdays for out and about day adventures. Wow. Here's to making the most out of the time I have here before who knows what else - teaching, community work, fun, and otherwise. Have a nice week everyone.