good things come in sixes

More often than not, when you make plans in Pohnpei, they will fall through – it’s just a fact of life.  In fact, in only the past three weekends, I have been promised a trip to the jungle to plant sakau, a fishing trip, and another trip to the jungle to plant yams.  Despite sincere assurances that all of these things would happen, none of them has occurred yet.  So, when an opportunity to go on the “six-waterfall hike” presented itself, I was again resigned to sit at home correcting papers and feeling sorry for myself.  Even if the hike did indeed take place, we didn’t even have a ride to the trailhead, so things were looking pretty bleak.  We decided to give it a shot anyway and started walking along the main road on Sunday morning hoping for a ride.  To my surprise, the very first car that came by not only picked us up but was headed to the exact village that we needed to get to.  It seemed fate was on our side that day. 

We met the other hikers at the trailhead in Salapwuk (Sala-pook), a village tucked high up in the mountains and relatively far from the main road.  Unfortunately, it was such a rainy day that there was no view of the ocean (a cherished sight for someone living in Kitti) even though the village has a great vantage point.  After a few short introductions, we paid some locals for permission to cross their property and headed off into the jungle in search of the famous six waterfalls. 

Most of the hike followed a main river which we either hiked adjacent to, across, or just straight up against the current.  This meant that the majority of the time we were either bushwhacking or stepping over dangerously slimy river rocks (I think only one person out of 18 made it the whole day without falling and clearly he is an anomaly).  The river itself is nestled between incredibly steep and densely forested mountains which shut you off from the rest of the world.  Every once in a while, there would be another river which emptied into the one we were hiking through and it would take the form of an enormous waterfall.  We spent a good amount of time at each waterfall swimming and exploring the caves. 

I know you’ll hate me for saying it, but the combination of 70-75 degree rainy weather and cold river water made it a pretty freezing hike.  Not to mention, I was so wet for the entire day that some tiny cuts I had on the bottom of my feet had turned into gaping crevasses after I took my shoes off.  I was positively limping to school today.  Regardless, after much slipping, wading, swimming, and trudging, we made it to all six waterfalls and completed the loop of our very satisfying hike.  It took about 8 hours to finish and I would estimate that it was about 4 miles long.  I could have written more but I figured that the pictures would say more than I could describe.  Enjoy!

Our guide leading us to the second waterfall of the hike.  This is also the river that we hiked through and along for the majority of the day.  We made crossings like this many more times.

A closer view of the second waterfall.  Mom's care packages have kept me from getting toooo skinny.

The third waterfall.  This one also had a pretty large cave behind the falls.

Another WT volunteer, Mike, wearing an old shoe that we found camouflaged among some mossy rocks.

A waterproof camera is the best investment you could ever make for a hike like this.

The entrance to the last waterfall of the hike.

We used a rope to help us swim up-current through a rocky crevasse to get to the last waterfall.

An incredible heart-shaped waterfall in one of the most remote spots on the island.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but it was set in a staggeringly large leafy cereal bowl whose walls nearly block out the sky.  At the end of the day, you really felt like you "earned" this waterfall. 

One of the local guides (actually a student at my high school) jumping off the top part of the falls.  Don't ask me how any of us were able to climb up there in the first place, but it was a great jump.