Morne Diablotins

So let’s be clear: After you arrive approximately 2/3 of the way up, the route ceases to be anything resembling a “trail”! It is a world class, elite special forces obstacle course of muddy hell! The “trail” is completely overgrown with roots and trunks and branches necessitating a commando style all fours scramble for the better part of a km.. This is not to say it isn’t awesome! Because he’ll… it is! But not for the timid or the sane! Now I am on the older side of folks who likely would attempt such an ascent. At 50 my joints do not work a s well as they used to.. But I have spent 36 years working my ass off in the wilds of British Columbia, Canada as a tree planter, surveyor, faller and hike all the time where there are no trails… And I have never experienced anything quite like this trail! Originally I had planned to attempt this “hike” on my own but a local convinced me to go with a guide. I enlisted the help of the toughest person I know in this country or anywhere: Denus William. If it had not been for for his strong leadership and invincible spirit, I would have turned back when the trail was swallowed by roots and tree trunks. He led me up to the top where we were greeted by an ocean of cloud and pounding rain for our efforts and all the way back down in one piece (reasonably). So the experience itself was 5 stars. It could be a 5 star trail too with some work. A couple of thoughts if you are thinking of attempting this yourself: make sure you have a gps device and understand how to locate yourself on the map etc! - Don’t hike this alone! The potential for fairly serious injury is high… -make sure you have an emergency communication device, plenty of water, food, first aid, shoes with excellent tread, and a change of top layer. Do NOT attempt this if you are a casual hiker. -

Imagine a straight-up 820 metre climb over 5.8km (15% gradient), with the first 2/3 just a warm-up on a mountain trail and then the next 1/3 over a calf-deep mud assault course involving over/under bars and some bouldering pitches. Imagine further that some sicko has put in a false summit so that just as you think you’ve completed the climb, you realise you have another 45 mins to do, through the toughest section of the assault course. Then do it all again in reverse. This will help you accurately envisage this hike. If you’re lucky enough to do this on a day of tropical downpours, then you will find the track muddier and more slippery on your way home than out. And you’ll enjoy zero views to even boost your morale. But you’ll have ascended the highest peak on the island and feel good once you dry off and warm up. Excellent hike 10/10.

Well the hike was very strenuous,slippery at certain places,climbing over roots,rocks,but worth it all....went along with next level hiking group,as they usually do different hiking trips around the island...I would defenately recommend it,if your body can handle it,then go for it

We did this hike in January 2023 and it's without doubt very challenging. The trail is very steep and muddy, ankle deep in places. There's lots of climbing up and over rocks and tree roots and branches, a lot of which are slippery. It is very significantly more challenging than Boiling Lake, which was the other hike we did during our stay. Our main concern before we set off was navigation as we had seen a few reviews saying it was easy to get lost and lose the trail. Nevertheless we decided to try it without a guide. However, we needn't have worried as we found the trail unambiguous and straightforward to follow - there weren't any points where it wasn't clear where to go next. We set off at 9:30am from the trailhead and the entire hike took us around five and a half hours (about two and a half hours each way with half an hour for lunch at the top). We have a good level of fitness and hike regularly, so could easily imagine it taking eight hours. I would advise against attempting this hike unless you are confident in your fitness level. Sturdy hiking boots are essential. We were the only people on the trail that day and it was amazing to feel that you have the whole place to yourself. There was no phone signal in a lot of places, so if you are going to attempt it, it is probably worth telling someone where you are going and when to expect you back. You move up through different layers of the rainforest and there is a huge variety of flora to see. From about half way up we were in the clouds so there were no views (we got a few glimpses on the way back down), but it was still a great experience.

If you like tough hikes, would highly recommend!We hiked the submit yesterday, which was a tough but amazing climb! Took us 3.5 up and 4 down (got a bit lost!) Trail starts off easy, with steps but descends into boggy swampy mud tree scrambling- jungle gym. It's not a typical hiking trail, more a mix of jungle gym/rock scrabbling so is fairly tough. We did it without a guide, which was okay up but tricky in top/middle section coming down as not easy as trail doesn't always go where you would expect. We did got lost off the trail once, but luckily were able to retrace our steps. We had the GPS trace which helped and if doing it without a guide, I'd definitely recommend this, although don't rely on it as signal was poor in the forest.

Very easy , no need for water , bring the kids

We did this hike in January 2024. From the nature point of view it is a very beautiful trail with nice views. Unfortunately the upper part of the trail is in very bad condition. Some maintenance is needed to clean the path little bit. Many roots are blocking the way in serious way. Aside of this be prepared for serious hiking in wet and muddy conditions.

Very challenging hike, but totally worth the challenge.