The Actuality of the Hidden Forest Adventure Hike (St. Maarten)

[Illiad]

Hey everyone, long-time lurker first-time poster.

 

A couple of years ago my wife and I took our first cruise ever on the Zuiderdam in the Caribbean. One of our stops was St. Maarten. Being the fairly adventurous people we are we selected excursions that were rated "Strenuous Activity." We chose the Hidden Forest Adventure Hike, described currently as:

 

Combine a rain forest hike with an island overview and some time in Marigot. The one-hour hike from Loterie Farm covers a trail through forest canopy up to the heights of Pic Paradis. Stop in Marigot at the market, where you will have time to explore and shop for local handicrafts, tropical art, Caribbean spices and Creole produce, returning to the ship by coach.

Note that when we went we didn't have the French Marigot shopping bit.

 

My wife and I arrived with small daypacks with bottles of water and the like. We're experienced hikers, as we live in Vancouver, British Columbia, home of the temperate rainforests and backwood trailheads. The excursion leader explained that we were about to go on "the most extreme hike you've ever experienced." Because of this, he urged us to leave our daypacks behind, which we did.

 

As it turns out, this "extreme hike" amounted to a pleasing approximately 2.5% grade walk (that means the trail goes up vertically 2.5 feet for every 100 feet it travels horizontally) for 30 minutes interspersed with frequent breaks near cool waterfalls, and a very moderate climb over a half dozen rocks as we reached the "peak." The way down was, obviously, much easier.

 

We had an 81-year old woman with us named Terry who needed help getting over the rocks, and she was tuckered and shaking at the top, but that's because she's 81...and she did it! We all applauded her spirit. Tough old bird, she earned my respect just by signing up for the excursion.

 

But back to my point. This "strenuous" and "most extreme" hike was unbelievably mild for even a beginning hiker. I understand that given the older crowd on HAL you can't overstate how difficult some of the physical activity can be for them, but when the excursion leader told my wife and I (at the time I was in my late 30s, she was in her mid 20s) that it was a grind, I expected that to be the truth. It would be obvious to anyone who looked at us that we were fairly fit. That he urged us to leave behind our 5-lb daypacks just makes me wonder where his mind was at the time. I don't think it was in his head.

 

My other experiences with HAL and the planned excursions were all excellent, so no beef there. Just thought I'd let folks know about the so-called "extreme hike" on St. Maartens. :rolleyes:

[billrco90278]

I really appreciate this kind of shore excursion review. As we sort through the offerings for our visit to St. Martin, your information is great to have.

[bUU]

Okay, just to be clear, though, this is not the Zip Line activity I've seen described elsewhere, associated with Loterie Farms.