Piste du Mont Poudehoume

Distance: 13.0 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 18/609/763 m.
Difficulty: 5.5/10.  Scenic: 6.5/10

Paul and I set out for a relatively easy Mother's Day hike out behind Dumbea
13 km hike over 5 hours, about 750 m elevation gain.  Click pic for album, geotracks are here: gpx, kml

Well, the hiking daughter has left for other adventures, yet I hike on.  I got my friend, and frequent hiking partner, Paul to join me on a Mother's Day jaunt up a mountain ridge behind the village of Dumbea, where he lives.

What he advertised as a quick three hour jaunt .... he didn't even pack a lunch ... turned into a 5+ hour good workout.  I kinda sensed this would be somewhat more involved than he opined, so fortunately we were able to enjoy a fine lunch of cheeses, ham and local veggies mid route.

The last half of the hike tied into the end of the GR1 (Stage 7), which we had completed a month ago with Kincso, at the tail end of Category 1 Tropical Cyclone Solo.  Conditions could not have been more different this time.  Blue skies, moderate temperatures, and not-so-slippery paths were the operating norms today.  We placed one final geocache to commemorate the end of the GR1 (linked here)  and now plan on something a bit more challenging next weekend.