Grottes de Koumac (Caves of Koumac)

Distance: ~ 700 m.  Elevation low/high/total: 15/15/0 m.

Difficulty: 8.5/10 (scary/bats).  Scenic: 1.0/10 (pitch black)

Not so much a hike a as a dare, I explored these caves despite the dire warning not to do so by myself.  Small set of pictures can be seen by clicking above, location of cave area here.

This is a bit of fun.  If you like dark places, filled with bats, and the potential for being "gassed".  Took me three tries to find the right way in and then I got lost (thanks, random punks that paint "wrong way out" arrows all over the place) briefly before finally finding an exit about 80m from where I entered.  Can't wait to show this place to Ildiko.

On the road to the Northern Province

Distance: ~1500 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 0/588/5610 m.

Difficulty: 7.8/10.  Scenic: 9.1/10

Everyone else had enjoyed a nice vacation recently but it had been nearly a year since i got away so ... I got away. Picture album by clicking on the Frog above, geotrack here

I've been living in New Caledonia for about 16 months now.  And, while I've done a goodly amount of hiking and exploring, the northern half of this country - of Grand Terre - was Terra Incognito (Unexplored) to me.  So I carved out a week, prepped the Land Rover ("Frog"), gathered my camping gear, did some research and early on a July 2015 Sunday morning set out for parts unknown.

The trip was great and just what the doctor ordered.  I saw new things, went places few have ever been and got to camp out for a week, an activity I love.  That all said, man ... the freakin' rain ... basically 5 of 7 days I had to take shelter from the storm(s).  Thus my pictures are mostly gray.  That hardly mattered when I was cave explorin' but it seriously cut down on hikin'/fishin'/beachcombin'.

I took five cameras (three dedicated, 2 on cell phones) and amazingly they all survived.  Maybe next year I can rally a couple of fellow explorers and we can check out places I never got to, or would like to see again.

I managed three hikes on the trip:

Les Grottes de Koumac (Caves of Koumac)
Sentier de Marais Sainat
Col de Wivaek/Roches de Linderalique

Hiking the GR1 - Stages 4 and 5

Distance: 30.1 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 155/532/1181 m.

Difficulty: 9.1/10.  Scenic: 7.8/10

And so we finished off the GR1 with a two day 30 km hike through the western end of the Parc de la Riviere Blue.
Click picture for photo album, the geotrack is here.

And now the GR1 full traverse has been accomplished.  My daughter, Kincso, and I (and, on various Stages accompaniment from Ildiko, Paul and Simon) made several treks over many months to hike the length of the hugely impressive GR1 put together by the tourism/park folks here in New Caledonia.  And, while we did hike it from beginning to end, we shortcutted the middle section as Stage 4B is an abbreviated section connecting Stages 3 and 6.  This weekend, my friend Paul and I completed the "skipped" sections, i.e., Stages 4 and 5.  We had hiked the six other sections in the generally intended direction, from east to west.  For logistical reasons (and doing the GR1 requires a LOT of logistical planning), we decided to start our hike at the "end" of Stage 5 and hike west to east, finishing at the "start" of Stage 4.  Because of the remoteness of the endpoints, much like Stages 6 and 7, we decided to do the two stages back to back and overnight at the Refuge offered between Stages 4 and 5.  

Weather, always an issue up in the mountains across this part of New Caledonia, could have been better but at least we didn't deal with a Category 1 cyclone like the last time we did a back-to-back stretch (Stages 6 and 7).  We set out in a light rain and ended in a light rain, but the rivers and creeks were fairly easily traversed and these two stages presented much like the other stages within the Parc de la Riviere Bleu.  The only real downside was that we were both breaking in new hiking boots and we had some serious foot blister issues the last half of day 2.  As on all the other Stages, we placed geocaches along each, bring the total placed along the length of GR1 to 10 (at the beginning, Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 4B, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, at the end).

A couple of final comments about this amazing outdoor resource provided for the public by the tourism bureau here.  The 130+ km trail has been meticulously cared for - from paths carved through almost impenetrable rain forest to steps built into steep slippery slopes to a multitude of constant signage pointing the way to go (and not to go).  The refuges provided in between stages (we used two of them - at Camp des Fougeres and Tristaniopsis) are extremely well built and provisioned.  At our stay at Tristaniopsis on this hike, we arrived to find a well stocked woodpile and kindling! and the shelters themselves are solid and watertight.  Somewhat puzzlingly, and sadly, on all our hikes we encountered only one other hiking group!  Whether this is a failure of advertising or a matter of indifference I can't say but on the plus side - O! the solitude!

When told of our completion, Ildiko asked so ... what's next?  Hmm, I have read that a companion set of hikes is nearly completed in the northern part of the island ....

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.