Hiking the GR1 - Stage 2

Distance: 13.0 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 255/602/694 m.
Difficulty: 6.0/10.  Scenic: 6.5/10

A 10.8 km hike, though with entry and exit, was a total of 13 km long
click picture to see picture album, here is the link to the geotrack

Finally, Finally!, everything came together so that Miss K and I could tackle the second leg of the New Caledonia Grande Randonée, otherwise know as the GR1.  She's leaving in 6 weeks or so and we have 6 stages still to do!  The difficulty with arranging this hike is that ideally we would have two vehicles so we could park one at each end and skip the hitchhiking that was necessitated in Stage 1 (when we had two cars but parked in the wrong place).  However, we were not able to find companion hikers so based on my confidence things would work out, off we went in the Frog.

And, you know what, things worked out WAY better, than they had for Stage 1.  We parked at the access road for the southern entry point, hiked 2.2 km in to the official start of Stage 2 and off we went.   The weather was pleasant, not too hot, often breezy, a bit of rain at times and the main 10.8 km section took about 3.5 hours to accomplish.  The main item of note was the intense interaction we had with several extremely large spiders along the way.  I was walking point and twice I felt spider web suddenly across my face and spinning around saw Kincso walking in the same, now stretched, web with a giant resident spider only inches from her face.  I figure I saved her life at least twice, maybe thrice.  There's a bit of spider in the pics and video.  Of course, we placed another geocache (link here) as is our intent for each stage.

Once we hit the main road and started hitchhiking while walking the start of the 8 km return trek to our jeep, it wasn't too long before a kindly family stopped and picked us up.  Next week, we hope to tackle Stage 3 which is one of the longest toughest legs (19.5 km) and tentatively have co-hikers lined up as hitchhiking in that stretch of the GR1 would be nigh impossible.

Ruisseau des Kaoris - a thermal hot spring

Distance: 9.7 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 0/154/299 m.
Difficulty: 3.0/10.  Scenic: 7/10

A great little hike that leads to a low key thermal springs spa
Click on pic to view album of pics
Link to the geotrack is here,

An old friend of mine, Jim Greiner, and his wife visited us for two weeks in mid February.  Near the end of their stay, Jim and I got away - just the two of us - to tackle a hike I'd wanted to do (and possibly claim an FTF on a geocache).  The hike is just past Prony Bay and ends at a thermal hot springs.  The creek that delivers the warm water is called Ruisseau des Kaoris and is fully described here.  On our way to the hike, we explored a bit with Frog (my venerable Land Rover) and managed to get ourselves into a bit of a pickle but we just as quickly 4WD'ed ourselves out of trouble.  We parked the frog (here) and set off on the hike.  It was a very hot, sunny day so we got a good workout even though the total hike was just a tad until 10 km.  We wandered through forest, on very slippery dried red mud, forded streams, walked through an abandoned fish camp - much of the usual stuff for a New Caledonia hike.

It had rained prodigiously the past few days before the hike and, as a result, all the rivers in the southern half of the country were swollen and fierce.  The point at the hike where we should have crossed the river (that empties into the bay) was simply not crossable on this day.  That little detail wasn't going to stop us.  We backed further down towards the bay and I decided to swim across to the other side ... only it turned out we could wade across as it was low tide!  We quickly found the thermal springs - a lovely spot with a developed pool and picnic table and platform and completely barren of other folks.  Though we were sweating profusely, we were determined to take a dunk in the hot springs, only to find that: they weren't hot at all and, in fact, the pool was rather refreshing  No disappointment there though!  Later, we found the geocache (FTF!) and then took our time on the hike back, stopping and swimming wherever possible.  A highly recommended hike - only 200m of elevation gain/loss, 10 km round trip, and absolutely lovely.

Hiking the GR1 - Stage 1

Distance: 14(22) km.  Elevation low/high/total: 6/354/617 m.
Difficulty: 7.5(9.0)/10.  Scenic: 6.5/10

An intended 14 km hike that turned into 22 km - click pic for album
The geotrack (use Google Earth for best view - you may need to download and then open with Google Earth)
Here's a very large geotrack with embedded pics

Whew, this was a doozy!  Miss K and I have been planning on starting to hike the "GR1" (Grande Randonnée or Great Hike, a set of seven challenging hikes that take you along half of New Caledonia) for a couple of months. With Ildiko and Iris away on Lifou, here was our opportunity to hike the first stage, which is a 14 km jaunt starting at Prony and ending at Refuge de Néocallitropsis.  To help with logistics, I talked two work colleagues into coming along - they wanted to mountain bike the stage while we hiked.  So we drove to Chutes de la Madeleine Parking, where I  inexplicably thought was the end of Stage 1.  We left the Frog (our LandRover) there, Kincso and I jumped into Paul's truck and we headed to Prony where Stage 1 of the GR1 starts.

We said goodbye to the mountain bikers and over the next five hours we made our way along the trail, stopping for lunch at Twin Falls (we'd been there before), and generally found the hike not overly difficult though a bit lengthy.  We placed a geocache along the way as we plan to do for each stage.  It got more vertical the last few kilometers and as we started to approach the expected end of the stage, it steadily dawned on us that someone was guilty of VERY POOR PLANNING.  At Refuge de Néocallitropsis (end of stage 1), there was a camping location and an explanatory billboard about Stage 2 which began there and was a 10.9 km, 3.5 hour hike that ended at Netcha (near Chutes de la Madeleine).  We were out of water, my legs were dead and it was approaching late afternoon.  We were at least a couple of kilometers from a road.  So we filled our backpacks with river water and started off bushwhacking to the east where we knew the main road was located.  Eventually we found an old dirt road and within a half hour were on a totally empty paved road.  We just kept walking - three vehicles passed us during the next hour but none would stop to give us a ride.  Finally, when we were within 1.5 kms of Chutes de la Madeleine, a van with three cleaning ladies stopped and drove us to our vehicle.  As I write this the following morning, my legs feel every extra km.  We're hoping the other stages of the GR1 are as fun as this one was!

To the summit of Mont Dore

Distance: 7.3 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 61/731/699 m.
Difficulty: 7.2/10.  Scenic: 9/10

A medium difficulty solo hike to the summit of Mont Dore - click pic for album
Two geotracks - one with elevation, one with enroute pics

As the end of the holiday break was nearing (work resumes Monday), I was still feeling a need for more hiking.  Unfortunately, the usual hiking suspects were in various forms of physical discomfort or already hiked-out so I took off early Saturday morning for my first solo hike in some time.  I wanted to see if I could make it to the top of Mont Dore, the brooding mountain dominating the skyline east of Noumea.  The hike wasn't as taxing as the one to the top of Mt. Mou, but it was a good workout nonetheless.  The views were spectacular and the weather could not have been more perfect - mid 20s C (mid 70s F) and a constant breeze of 20-30 knots.

Mt. Mou and the WWII plane wreck

Distance: 8.5 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 219/1185/1150 m.
Difficulty: 9.2/10.  Scenic: 8.8/10

The remains of the Dauntless SBD-3 (Tail 918) - click pic for album
Geotrack for the difficult hike is here

My friend Paul told me about this hike some months ago, and I finally convinced him to motivate a hike.  So, Paul, myself and Kincso, and Simon Nichol (SPC colleague) and his son Django hit the road by 8 AM to start the hike.  Make no mistake, this is a doozy of a hike.  It is straight uphill, through dry forest, red dirt desert, wet rainforest, etc. for 3.5 hours. If you do this hike, take a lot of water.  Take even more than a lot.  The history of this plane crash can be read here.  Sadly, there is less and less of the wreck remaining each year as bounty hunters strip away parts.  Paul has been here six or seven times over the past 15 years and attests to the plane's further destruction.  All in all, an exhausting hike that takes one through several different climes, highly recommended for the masochistic sporties out there.  We placed a geocache at the site, linked here.

The Dumbea dams, 2nd visit

Distance: 10.0 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 187/466/546 m.
Difficulty: 5.5/10.  Scenic: 7.0/10

A return trip, this time with Paul J's two kids - click pic for album

Not a new geotrack, but the track from first visit

My friend, Paul Judd from SPC, had his two kids in from out of town and that was reason enough for a hike.  Four plus months ago, when my wife and daughters arrived, we took them on this same hike - in a jetlagged state.  Kincso was game to go again, so off we went.  This time, we took no dogs and spent much of the time swimming as the waters have filled the river compared to four months ago, and greatly warmed up.  The length of river was absolutely packed with folks but there were very few as far upstream as we hiked.  A nice, easy, excellent summer hike.

Maa Bay Point

Distance: 7.4 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 0/22/50 m.
Difficulty: 2.5/10.  Scenic: 8.5/10

The treat at the end of a 3.7 km hike - click pic for album
the geotrack is here

We wanted to return to this area to check out the beach at the end of the road.  The Boat on the Beach and the isolated beaches on the northwest part of the peninsula were great but this area seemed irresistible.  We made the mistake of only wearing flip flops and the hike was a bit more difficult than expected given that the "road" was really an overgrown path.  But the end result was spectacular - odd that there are several no-longer-used-structures indicating that this was once a popular community resort area.  We also placed a geocache here.