Sunday, May 24, 2015

Marmites du Diable (Devil's Cauldrons)

A scenic and relatively easy hike along a river of crystal clear water to a set of swimming holes.
Click picture to see a photo album.  The geotrack is here.
A lovely Sunday morning and Paul and I got out on the path relatively early.  Our hike today was along the north branch of the Dumbea river; we'd crossed and hiked much of the south branch several times in the past so it was time to "branch" out.

The hike is mostly flat, gaining barely 100m of altitude and the round trip to the Marmites is 12 km.  We saw more people, including two large groups of at least 20 people, on this hike than on all our other hikes combined.  Folks were "hiking" in flip flops and carrying coolers.  The highlight for most are the Marmites, or Pots (Cauldrons) which are deep swimming holes at certain stages of the river.  The river seems to flow through a canyon in several places.  At one spot, pictured above, there's a jumping off spot about 10-12 m above the water.

Paul and I went another km or so past the deep pools and found a more rewarding stretch of smaller pools, where the water is almost impossibly clear.  We enjoyed a swim, alternately in the rain and sun, then had a picnic lunch and set on our way back.  Of course, we placed a geocache to mark the outing.  A highly recommended hike, and one great for kids or those not fond of uphill hiking.


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