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.

Ruisseau des Kaoris hike with Ildiko

The sign on THIS side of the crossing to the thermal springs.  Click pic for photo album. 
Geotrack of 10 km round trip hike is here.

On a sunny mid week work holiday, Ildiko and I set off on a pleasant hike.  Iris was having a playdate with a friend so it was just the two of us.  The drive to the hike spot is nearly two hours and is about 20 minutes past the turnoff to the old abandoned slave labor camp of Prony.  The hike starts at about 150 m of altitude and descends early on to be a flight hike for most of the time. However, it is slippery red mud on the way down - but we maintained our balance.  To get to the hot springs, you have to eventually cross a fairly wide river delta (which can be a lot wider after heavy rains). We considered our options and finally decided to cross the river rather than retreat out to the bay (as Jim G and I did back in February after a heavy rain storm).  No option but to wade in and deal with wet shoes/socks from then onwards.

Upon arrival at the hot springs, we found some trustafarians had set up camp obviously having been there awhile already but were polite enough to retreat for a spell so we could enjoy the warm pool.  the pool was not warm and, in fact, was a bit cool but having come this far, we had to take the plunge.  A nice lunch was had and we turned our sights upon the return and made it back a bit quicker than we had come.  This hike likely spells the end of hikes in the southern part of New Caledonia for awhile as we've done most of the listed hikes.  

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.

Hiking the GR1 - Stage 4B (Abbreviated Stages 4/5)

Distance: 13.9 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 155/206/352 m.
Difficulty: 4.5/10.  Scenic: 4.5/10

Filling in the missing segment, we completed our quest to hike the length of the GR1.  This particular segment, admittedly the easiest and serving as our GR1 coda, was 14 km long. 
Click pic for photo album. The geotrack for the hike is here: (gpx) (kml)

We did it!  Five different outings, some wild experiences, nearly 100 km total trekking through all manner of mountain/mud/brush/river/desert and Kincso and I can say that we have hiked the length of the Grande Randonée Nouvelle Calédonie 1 (GR NC1, usually just abbreviated as the GR1).  This particular section, Stage 4B, is the missing link between the end of Stage 3, which we completed at the beginning of April and Stages 6/7 which we completed during Tropical Cyclone Solo a couple of weeks ago.  Stage 4B is actually a shortcut for Stages 4 and 5 but time was running out and those shall await another time.

For this particular stage, we were joined by Ildiko and my friend Paul, with whom we've done a few other hikes.  Technically, this is the simplest of the Stages as most of it takes place along a level red dirt road.  The high hope we had was to see, in the wild, the national bird and symbol of New Caledonia - a Cagou, as seen above.  And we did!  We even got to spend some time close enough to one that it was hissing at us, a noise I had trouble believing at first could be made by such a beautiful bird.  We also placed, as we did on every Stage, a geocache along the way (linked here).  As of today, NONE of the caches has yet been found/logged - likely the result of so little trail traffic, as discussed below.

A couple of final comments on hiking this quite impressive trail.  The GR1 presents one with a nicely varied set of experiences.  The length and vertical range present varying levels of challenge and I would rate the whole thing as quite difficult.  The trail is very well maintained and marked, with one notable exception: there needs to be more distance markers.  Most stages are only marked at the 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 points but those are 4-6 km apart and it can be hours getting between them.  Many markers are placed all along the trail - to prevent getting lost - it would not be a chore to add a clip on distance marker at every 500 m point.  the other amazing thing we noticed was how utterly unoccupied we found the trail.  I think we passed one other set of hikers over the six stages we did.  Not sure why that is given the overall general healthy nature of folks here but a great deal of time and money went into creation of this national treasure and it seems a pity it's so underutilized.

Miss K (Kincso) heads off to Europe and then U Cal Berkeley in a couple of weeks, so I'll be losing a hiking buddy.  I think she gained a lot of self confidence and learned that persistence is one of her innate strengths - she's gonna be a great college student!  May these pages provide her with a reminder of time we spent together that will always rank among my favorite outdoor adventures.

Hiking the GR1 - Stages 6 and 7

An epic misadventure spread across two days.  We hiked 30 km, gained 1700 m of altitude and battled the onslaught of Cyclone Solo to conquer Stages 6 and 7 of the GR1.  Click above for picture album.  Geotracks here: (gpx) (kmz)

Kincso has been accepted, and likely will attend, U Cal Berkeley in the fall.  She leaves New Caledonia in less than a month.  We still had four sections of the GR1 to complete.  This weekend was the one penciled in to complete the final two legs (we'll fill in the skipped legs later) and we had my friend Paul along for the adventure.  Due to the remoteness and difficulty of access, you really need to do these two legs consecutively with an overnight at one of the refuges high up in the mountains.  There was news of a forming tropical storm (which became Cyclone Solo) but we apparently misread when it would strike New Caledonia, thinking we had until Sunday evening before the rains would hit.  We were wrong about that.

Ildiko dropped Kincso and me at a meeting point where Paul, his wife and sister picked us up and we headed for the Parc de la Riviere Bleu.  Once there we drove to the furthest point - Pont Perignon - where a park ranger took us deeper into the park to the start of Stage 6.  We hiked about 8.5 hours on Day 1, mostly through thick rain forest and relentlessly uphill for the second half of the day.  Many rivers were crossed and we had some soakings and Kincso got a nasty cut crossing a particularly slippery set of rocks.  We didn't make it to the end of Stage 6 - which was 15+  km but there was a smaller shelter at the 13 km stage and we spent the night there.  The A frame huts proved to be a huge benefit because the rains arrived shortly after we got there.  There was just enough firewood to warm a sandwich and some chicken bouillon.  We were inside by 7 pm and out of the torrential rains that fell all night long.  Upon waking, the scene outside was surreal.  Standing water everywhere and steady heavy rain.  Nothing we had was dry.  

We faced the final 3.7 km of Stage 6 - all uphill - to get to the start of Stage 7, which itself was a 15 km hike mostly downhill back to Dumbea.  The effect of the rain on the paths, the footing, the rivers, the red mud roads at the end - words can't do it justice.  This was without a doubt the toughest two day hike I have ever done, and Paul and Kincso concur.  Kudos to Kincso for persevering, and learning what amazing inner strength she has - and to Paul who was a positive force and morale booster the whole time.  Our pictures (link to full album at picture above) may not have captured the surrealist aspect of the whole hike: we went to great lengths to protect our electronics from the biblical rains and simply could not risk taking them out at times.  But hopefully we captured enough to paint a picture.  These two stages of the GR1 are in another league relative to the other stages, and we are all thrilled to have finished them off, likely never to be repeated.

We did place two more geocaches as we've done for each leg (linked here and here).  The final kicker to the whole hike was that the good park folks CLOSED the car park access where Ildiko was to  pick us up, and so just when we thought the whole ordeal was over ... we had to hike two more km out the access road to get back to the closed gate, thus extending the Day 2 hike to a full 10 hours done completely in totally wet cold clothing and footwear.  Good times.  How soon can we complete the other legs?

Hiking the GR1 - Stage 3

Distance: 15.3 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 163/491/555 m.
Difficulty: 5.0/10.  Scenic: 5.0/10

We had Simon along as company on the 15.4 km Stage 3 hike
Click on the pic for link to picture album, geotrack links: (kml) (gpx).

Less than two weeks after completing Stage 2 of the GR1 (the Nouvelle Calédonie Grande Randonée 1, or GR NC1 as it's officially titled), Miss K and I were able to tackle Stage 3, thanks to the willing participation of an SPC colleague, Simon Nichol.  Heading out on an early Good Friday (hence, work vacation day) morning, we drove to the western terminus of the hike, which is near the eastern entrance to the Parc de la Rivière Bleu, dropped his truck there and then the three of us drove over to Netcha which is the eastern terminus of the hike.  We managed to hit the trail just after 9:30 AM on a semi overcast, quite pleasant day for hiking.

While the overall length of the hike suggested  it might be a bit of a challenge, in fact this was the easiest of the 3 stages to date.  The 15.4 km hike took about 4.5 hours and involved two relatively modest hills (well, one was modest) and provided some spectacular vistas.  We crossed a couple of creeks as well as a mostly dry riverbed that was littered with thousands of huge boulders indicating that, on occasion, some serious flooding (from a typhoon, perhaps) washes through the valley here.  We placed a geocache (linked here) at the top of Agathis Pass, where we also enjoyed a nice lunch.  Next up is Stage 4, which is inside Parc de la Rivière Bleu, and hopefully we'll tackle that shortly. 

Depardieu and the wind turbines of Plum

Distance: 9.3 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 6/434/537 m.
Difficulty: 6.5/10.  Scenic: 8.5/10

A solo hike up above the village of Plum to visit their wind farm - click pic for album
The geotrack is linked here(gpx) and here(kml)

https://goo.gl/photos/FgeLRcLDbcBeHRMY7

Once again I found myself without a hiking partner but my feet were so itchy I just had to get up and out.  Quite often, on my way down south, I pass the lovely little town of Plum - last village before you head into the mountains.  A string of wind turbines can be seen up on the plateau above the village and, turns out, there's a hiking trail to get up there.  So, up I went early on a hot Sunday morning.

My friend Paul later told me this trail was known as the "goat scramble" and it was tough going for awhile.  The trail is quite vertical in places and you haul yourself up hand over foot across sharp rock and brush.  As it's on the lee side of the mountain, the air is rather dead and I lost a lot of water weight (i.e., I sweated like a pig).  But the view up there was spectacular.  The best of all though was my meeting with an unexpected giraffe.  There he stood, proudly surveying the scene beyond the line of wind turbines.  I named him Depardieu because, well .... French, big nose, stoic, gerard le giraffe ... seemed a natural name.  I placed a geocache at his feet (linked here), and then headed back.  There's not really a trail to follow heading back till you're about half way down and can then follow the power lines.  The descent was even trickier in places - loose stones, slippery dirt, the usual.  It was, all in all, a lovely way to spend a weekend day.

ps - I'm in the market for a hiking buddy, as my usual companion is about to leave New Caledonia and start college at Berkeley in a few weeks.