Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

[jazzbythec]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

Magic,
What? Still not in Detroit yet?? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Magic,
We have one of the smallest air strips in the US here in Dutch Harbor, Alaska... I've been on some really hairy landings.. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] ..
Come soon with the report.. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70371-jump.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70371-jump.gif[/img]

[wandaweberg]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

[ QUOTE ]
we are looking for pictures sir - pictures [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70392-silly.gif[/img]

mi need home yesterday ....sigh....

[/ QUOTE ]

What she said. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Magician]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

Part 12 - The day has come.

The original plan called for Ochigal to carry me up the mountain. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] However, poor Ochigal was training so hard for that daunting task, that she injured her foot two weeks prior. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] I didn't train at all (why bother if you're being carried) and neither did L.

Another minor detail in the situation was that although the trecking company has a list of items to bring and do, I never got the list, save for a brief converstaion the night before. Mr. Robert, our guide mentioned the basics: food, water, flashlight with spare batteries, backpacks, etc. Having last hiked at least 10 years prior, and this being L's first such adventrure our preparations were an educated guass to say the least.

We drove down to Halfway Tree in the morning (late as usual [img]/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] ) to the office where we met Claus, our groups replacement for Ochigal, since 3 were required. Claus is a German telecomunications contractor for C&W who just finished a 2 month assignemnt in Jamaica, and was spending a few weeks before going home. Evidently a much more experienced hiker, he had proper hiking boots, a nice backpack, sleeping gear, in other words, the whole nine yards. In the meantime we roll in with our sneakers, t-shirts, and a duffel bag thrown over one shoulder! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] "Does Claus know something we don't? Lord have mercy!"

After lunch in Liguinea, Robert took us in his four wheel drive through Papine, and then the scenic valleys, everclimbing and switchbacking around the precipis. We enter a hidden valley and a sign announces our arrival in Mavis Bank. The Blue Mountain Coffee Factory brings a smile to my face, and soon we pull off the road to change equipment.


A fully loaded mango tree along the way.


As challenging as the road has been thus far, the 4X drive is not suitable for the rest of the trip, as the road gets worse. We take up residence in the bed of a Land Rover. Out in the distance we can see the mighty, majestic, and massive mountain range crowned by the Blue Mountain Peak itself. From down here it looks like mission impossible. In my mind's eye I can already picture the JDF helicopter fueling up for its next rescue mission.

[niceniss]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

[ QUOTE ]
(I can't use the right mouse click on this computer in Detroit, so I can't add pictures. Maybe tomorrow in North Caroline. Sorry.)

[/ QUOTE ]



use the keboard to right click. there's a little button on it that has a picture of a rectangle and an arrow.

or follow this command

1. Position the mouse pointer anywhere on your computer's screen.

2. Select by (left) clicking if necessary.

3. Press the Shift and F10 keys simultaneously to right-click.

[ohliz]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

[ QUOTE ]
after i saw Peter Greensburg huffing and puffing up that hill to meet the PM Patterson - the Blue Mountains are OFF my things to do in Jamaica - [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Might be easier without the suit and dress shoes, Seveen!

[SistahD]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

...foot tapping waiting for more pics...

[Sinco01]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif[/img]

[Magician]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

Part 13 - Going Up



L. and Claus in the Land Rover going "up the hill"!


Robert now joins us on the back of the Rover, and a local mountain expert drives as we hold on for dear life! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] As soon as we depart from Mavis bank the road can hardly be called that, but it makes it more interesting. We follow the bank of a river until we get to a crossing. The bridge on the river was mashed up by one hurricane or another leaving half of it standing and half collapsed. That's not a problem for this crafty vehicle and we traverse through a makeshift course through the water.



Bridge over "River Kwai".


When we reach the district of Hagley Gap we make a turn. Not a Left. Not a Right. An Up! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70392-silly.gif[/img] I wasn't sure where we were going until I lifted my head up high. Surely we can't make it up that wall of a road without tumbling backwards foot over head. And backflips in a Land Rover while riding in the back are not advisable. However, with the accompainament of amusing noises made by the engine we ascend virtually vertically up as if in an old rickety elevator. The dirt track is bordered by a wall of green to the left, and a 2000-foot drop to the right and nothing but "up" ahead.



Hagley Gap, and the road leading up from it.



Look at the drop behind L.'s back!!

[Magician]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

Part 14 - Jacob's Ladder


View from Whitfield Hall in the direction we came from.


The memorable roller-coaster ride ends at Whitfield Hall. Here we rest a little in the lodge, organize our gear and push out. It's around 3 O'clock in the afternoon and the warm (but not hot) afternoon sun is pleasant, and the track not steep but rather easy. It's all smiles at this point. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] My duffel with its single strap becomes a little annoying and I wished I had a backpack. I manage to deal with it by switching arms from time to time... until that is, we get to Jacob's Ladder.

The appropriately named, 45 degree angle, switchback path covered with loose rock seams neverending. Behind each corner emerges the next. The thought of the summit still being 7 miles away does not help. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] At this juncture it's better for your mind to concentrate on one step at a time. After what seemed like an infinity L. asks Robert: "How many more bends in this ladder?" Without pause he answers: "Only one more bend... and the rest are curves!"


The curves finally give way to a break. One with magnificent view at that. Robert always made sure our breaks had a nice view. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img] However a nice view unfortunately didn't automatical earn us a break. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img] This is the entrance to the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park. As we continue up it quickly becomes evident that Jacob's tough ladder is followed by Jacob's brother, Jacob's granny, Jacob's pickney, Jacob's babymodda, Jacob's third cousin- twice removed. All of them provinding us with ladders and kicking the same punch like the rest of the family. Two hours into the climb I develop a deep hatered for all of Jacob's clan! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70368-hoppingmad.gif[/img]

The higher we climb, the more beauty is exposed. The majestic mountains are basked in the warm sunlight giving them a soft glow. :love: Way down below, perched on precipises situated at impossible angles are homes of the coffee growers and other country folk who call these beautiful pinnacles home. Between Mossman's Peak, and the Blue Mountain Peak there is a pass. It's called Portland Gap, and this is where we'll be spending the night.

[Magician]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.


The lodge at Whitfield Hall. The end of the "road".



The lodge from the mountain side.


Starting the hike.

[Magician]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

[ QUOTE ]
follow this command

1. Position the mouse pointer anywhere on your computer's screen.

2. Select by (left) clicking if necessary.

3. Press the Shift and F10 keys simultaneously to right-click.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the tip Donnika. I'll remember that next time. This machine tonight seems to be working fine though.

[Seveen]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.


bwoy - looks like you wore this gurl out

ohliz - not doing that mountain naked - let alone with a suit and shoes - that had to be staged

[Magician]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.



Although the terraced hillsides look nice, it is not the way these mountains looked originally. By taking down the forrest the hillsides are left to erode. I beleive it was in the 60's that in order to prevent erosion Caribbean Pine was introduced and planted, and then stread in the Blue Mountains. The needles from these pines changed the environment. Although plenty of the original forrest remains, there are large areas of the bare and pine covered slopes in the lower sections of the mountains.

[Magician]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

[ QUOTE ]
Might be easier without the suit and dress shoes, Seveen!

[/ QUOTE ]


C'mon Seveen, I know you'd love it. OHLiz has a point.

[Mek note to drag Seveen up de mountain sometime. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] ]

[nige]

Re: Top of Jamrock! - The Blue Mountain Peak, Kingston, Negril and Ochi.

i have stayed at whitfield hall many times, but not since i was a kid, so thanks for the pics and the memories. it really is incredible up in those mountains isnt it? and the beauty from the peak is gorgeous, worth every step