Rotui!

Last friday, we climbed Rotui, the 2nd tallest peak on Mo'orea. It was so beautiful!

We started the day bright and early at around 6 am. The hike is really quite marvelous because you are on a ridge line the entire time, and have views of the whole island the entire way up. We saw the sun coming up over Mo'orea, so right from the beginning it was very beautiful. The trail is a little bit scary looking as you can tell. Very narrow, and with steep cliffs on either side. Sometimes the trail isn't real ground, but just root masses that you're stepping on. I mean..... it's totally safe mom!

 

Here is the only picture I have of Sierra, Gwen and Katie climbing the mountain. They were our speedster group who went a bit faster than me and my comrades.

Here I am looking out at Oponohu Bay. Isn't that an incredible view? The weather was perfect for us, and stayed nice and without rain the whole day.

We did end up walking in cloud a bit. It was so beautiful the way the clouds would swoop up one side of the mountain and it would be clear on the other side.

Up up and up! Altogether it took us about 4 hours to get the top, and a bit longer to get down, because it sure is steep! There are some places where you need to use ropes to climb because it is too horizontal and there aren't enough roots and rocks to hold onto.

The great view on either side let us see both bays at the same time. We could even see our house from the trail!  There it is, our Gump Field Station. My house is the last green roof on the left, a little beachside bungalow that I have been sharing with the other GSIs. You can see the student dorm next to us, and the fare potee (gathering hours) next to the beach.

Blue skies, beautiful mountains, coral reef, what more could you ask for!?

 Hoorah, the summit! There were about 7 false peaks before the real summit, be we made it to the top after some treacherous climbing. There is a 360 view, and you can see every coastline in Mo'orea! Such an incredible peak to be on. Probably one of the best hikes I've yet done.

I had a delicious mango for lunch. And then we had a little photoshoot.

 The way down was almost more interesting than the way up. Scrambling down led to much dirt on our butts, and a few scary moments. We had to downclimb a few parts, and Jenny almost slipped off at one point. I mean....it's totally safe mom!

Because there are cliffs on either side of the trail, it leads to some breathtaking photos that look like you're floating in the middle of nowhere. Look at those cliffs!

 The reef is especially beautiful up there. Thousands of blues and greens and turquoises.

A lot of the trail is bushwacking over stupid Diacronopteris ferns, which are actually quite unpleasant when they are scraping your shins by the thousands. I did not listen to James' advice about wearing pants (well, and I also forgot my field pant zip-off bottoms, so I don't exactly HAVE pants here), but Jenny had an ingenious solution of cutting socks as leg protectors. I didn't. Oh well!

All in all, the Rotui hike made for another great day in Moorea!!! This is what paradise looks like!