Cascade de Tao

Distance: 2.0 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 10/123/130 m.

Difficulty:2.6/10.  Scenic: 9.0/10

North of Hienghene lovely waterfall is just a 2 km round trip.  Geotrack is here, album of pics is here.

The entire region surrounding Hienghene is beautiful and less visited by non-residents than most of the rest of Grand Terre simply because of the distance and relative lack of "nice" facilities.  No worries there - we camped just outside of Hienghene and this lovely waterfall is about a half hour drive (and includes a cable ferry river crossing!) north of Hienghene.  The hike is pretty much exactly 1 km to the falls (the path is a little tough to follow at the 3/4 point but persist) and there are several places to stop and swim along the way.  And many folks were swimming at various pools and riffles.  However, at the top, at the biggest pool where the falls end their drop ... there was only us!  It did start raining almost as soon as we arrived but the warm drizzle just added to the warm wet experience.  Very highly recommended as a hike - for the young or old!

Rivière des Pirogues

Distance: 8.6 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 62/113/180 m.

Difficulty:4.1/10.  Scenic: 8.3/10

Fun hike along a beautiful river - with swimming and fishing holes!Click pic above for picture album, gps track is here

It's quite warm here in New Caledonia  this time of the year.  Thus, Paul and I seek out hikes near water during the summer and the river system along the road to Yate is just spectacular for that purpose.  This particular river we explored is the Rivière des Pirogues, where one also finds the Pont des Japonais where we've been many times.  We drove Paul's 4WD truck some 5 km inland over a close-to-undriveable old mining/logging road.  The plan was to hike back to the main road, near the Scout Camp that Paul has long been involved with, and he would mountain bike back to his truck to get a little extra work out.  Well, the hike back from the parking spot was awesome and we found a couple of excellent swimming holes. We also encountered sizable fish populations feasting on the bits of granola bar we happened to drop in the water.  After some good swims and a bit of a hike we decided that wasn't enough hiking and we just hoofed it back to his truck to make it an overall 8+ km hike and drove back out.

I returned the following week on my own to try out the fishing.  Sadly, almost immediately upon arrival, a drenching rain began and basically continued all morning as I moved form fishing hole to fishing hole.  I did catch three of the little bass-like fish (there are bigger ones to be caught that would make a fine meal ...), and now I'm trying to identify them down to species level. 

A good hike to do with kids - it's flat easy to follow and so many places to swim even in times of low rainfall.

La forêt de Thy

Distance: 13.8 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 18/248/646 m.

Difficulty:5.8/10.  Scenic: 9.1/10

A hike into an area that is generally avoided.  But the payoff - a fantastic "baignade" made it worthwhile.  Click pic for album, the geotrack is here

First hike in a month and a very nice one.  the region is not one that is often hiked apparently.  But we had an uneventful time and ended up at a baignade (swimming hole) that appears to have been in use since the early 1900s, likely established a "resort" area for mining crew.   (Note added after some research: The spot is apparently called the "Grosses Gouttes" and we found a written record of Scouts visiting there in 1935, but no discussion of who built the place.  We also got more confirmation that this is a dangerous place to visit given tension with the nearby tribes). There are steps and concrete sitting area built into the hillside lining one side of the natural pool.  No one else was there except us and a sizable number of very hungry fish.  The hike is relatively flat; the flora is as diverse and interesting as anywhere I've seen on the island.  We saw giant taro,a bamboo forest, picked and ate wild raspberries and even passed through a birch tree grove.  Definitely worth a return visit.

Riviere We Puci

Distance: 5.8 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 105/135/103 m.

Difficulty:3.6/10.  Scenic: 7.3/10

A solo hike this time, in the vicinity of the Pont des Japonais.  This river (We Puci) is better than the one crossed by the Pont (Pirogues).  Click pic for photo album, the geotrack is here.

Just needed to get out for a simple hike so decided to return to the region near the Pont des Japonais.  I'd identified a different access point from which I could hike along the Riviere des Pirogues to return to the great swimming hole near the Pont du Japanais we'd found last year.  But ultimately I failed at finding the entrance track.  Instead, I found a different track and just 4-wheel drove towards the river, which turned out to to be the Riviere We Puci,  until I didn't feel safe driving further.  But I was able to get within a 100 meters of the river so it was grand.  Two swimming holes provided welcome relief from the rather warm conditions and next time I'll explore further upstream.  The trail is narrow at times and long pants, or at least protection for the shins is suggested.  Besides the vistas, there are still lots of old RR track beams and crumblingcreek-crossing wooden bridges and even an old RR car all along the trail.

Vallee N'Go

Distance: 11.5 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 75/453/586 m.

Difficulty: 5.1/10.  Scenic: 5.2/10

An easy 11.5 km stroll.  Click on picture to view album.The geotrack can be downloaded here. A slightly longer track, showing the access road to hike start is here.

After a lengthy much-needed vacation off the rock, I returned and easily convinced Paul to accompany me on another hike.  We knew this one would be relatively easy but ... but it was still great to get out on this lovely day. Before setting out, we did a bit of four wheel driving in Frog and some exploration around the tree farm behind which this walk started.

We made the hike a bit more interesting than would happen by sticking to the main track ... which is essentially comprised of various old mining access roads, in various states of disrepair.  We hiked up one of the early hills tot he nearby windmill farm and found a great set of views and worked up a sweat.  Afterwards, it was all downhill to we finally recrossed the N'Go river which we first saw where we left Frog.

La Couvelee

Distance: 7.5 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 53/267/495 m.

Difficulty: 7.0/10.  Scenic: 6.9/10

An "upside down" hike compared to usual in that we parked up the mountain and bushwhacked down to a river.  Click the pic for a photo album and the geotrack is here.  A more complete geotrack with the route to the top of the hang gliding take off location is here.

The next river valley over from Dumbea is called La Couvelee.  That there is a hike there is not well advertised.  Nevertheless, we tracked it down and Paul and I set off for our more-or-less-regular bi-monthly hike.  the day was not promising, weather-wise, so we diverted from the start of our hike to explore the nearby mountain top which is an authorized hang gliding take off location, complete with specialized track and wind sock.  The drive up there was a bit dicey, but then that's why I got a Land Rover.  Need to upgrade my tires though, some of the slipping and sliding along the rain-coated cliff edge road was a bit panic inducing.  Up at the summit, the weather whistled by and we enjoyed the mist and drizzle.  

The hike itself started a bit further down the mountain and was unusual in that we started off hiking down the mountain, literally bushwhacking our way for a about a kilometer through dense brush and trees with nary a trail to follow.  The geotrack shows how different our return route, bushwhacking uphill, was from the downhill part.  In all, not a long hike but our legs got pretty beat up and it was exhausting enough fighting uphill at the end of the hike that we feel we got in a full day's worth.  And the swimming down at the river was sa-weet!

Chutes de la Madeleine - Sentier Botanique

Distance: 3.5 km.  Elevation low/high/total: 238/259/37 m.

Difficulty: 1.6/10.  Scenic: 8.9/10

A short but fun and scenic hike to a waterfall and a botanical stroll.  Click pic for album, gpx file is here.

It's New Caledonia Day weekend so we had a couple of extra days off.  With the choice of either an extra French lesson or a hike with the 'rents, Iris chose the hike.  We chose a relatively easy one and one that we attempted once before but got rained out.  While the weather threatened initially, it turned out to be beautiful. So we drove to the Netcha area and walked to the Madeleine waterfall (Chutes de la Madeleine) and strolled along the Botanical Path (Sentier Botanique).  Just lovely and peaceful.  Highly recommended as a hike with kids.  While it costs (400 XPF), that also gets you admission to Netcha which has a lovely swimming area a few km away, though we opted to skip that as it's not quite swimming weather yet so early in the spring as it is.