Our Grand Adventure

30th October 2025 | Odometer: Sore Feet | St Vincent & The Grenadines

The Mount Soufrière Volcano is located on the north west of the St Vincent island; it is the largest peak on the island at 1,234 meters (4,048 feet), and its neighbour, Richmond Peak, is the second tallest at 1,079 meters (3,539 feet). It last erupted in 2021 creating some very dramatic scenery where the lava flows had progressed in relatively recent times.

We were super excited to climb this as it had had rave reviews from many folks we had met and we had both always wanted to climb a volcano!

The day started really early with a pick up from the anchorage restaurant at 6am; it would be about an hour – hour and a half to get to the start of the hike. Along the way we picked up our guide, and some breakfast – a sweet bread roll with fried chicken and lots of spicy sauce and mayo (delicious but definitely not healthy haha).

We both exchanged looks of surprise and amusement when our guide proceeded to down a Guinness as part of his breakfast. 

The driver dropped us off at the start of the trail; which was starting at a beach. We were both very glad for the guide at this point as I have no idea how we would have found the trail head without him. 

The area around the beach leading to the start of the trail is also not exactly safe without a guide as its primarily occupied by the Marijuana Growers Association (unclear if a legitimate group) and there were a few folks of questionable vibes around the beach and shore area. 

The beach itself is dark black sand with many large unusual rocks strewn through it. We crossed a small river outlet and continued barefoot along the beach for quite a while.

Once we reached the start of the trail, we rinsed off our feet, donned our boots and started the hike… I then realised our guide was wearing only crocs along the beach; and then as we started the trail he took them off to carry them… he didn’t seem too concerned though and off we went.

This first section of the hike was amazing, I would recommend even if you didn’t want to hike the volcano this section would be worthy of visiting in its own right. It was a lava flow which had cut a deep channel from the volcano to the coast line. Walking between steep cliffs, shaded from the outside world and filled with humidity; the sides were covered in interesting creepers, and vines and orchids. It felt like the original inspiration for the Singapore Waterfall Botanic Gardens and I felt a strong sense of the surreal whilst walking through here. I wanted to go really slowly and just get a little lost in the calm and peaceful sensations of the valley.

We then started ascending the slopes through a dense jungle canopy. The views were starting to get really good and the hike is definitely tiring but not overly challenging at this point. The path is narrow and winding through the thick vegetation. n some places, without any warning the dense vegetation clears away and you suddenly realise the path has narrowed to a foot width and there is nothing either side of you as you are in the middle of crossing a steep ridgeback. The thick vegetation stifles the air and the ascent really gets the heart rate going; we were both sweating profusely and puffing.

Through a series of steep stepped sections, and constant uphill grades, the vegetation shifts from dense jungle to thick shrubbery; introducing a new element of excitement – thick vines every which way which threaten to trip you up with every step. We both took a few stumbles but carried on fighting through the very overgrown trail. I found my face was the perfect height to get slapped by all the grasses – wonderful.

Despite this, at each corner we would stop for a breather and as you step into the open, you are immediately rewarded with a strong, fresh breeze to cool you down. The opening allows you to take in the views and it felt like each time we stopped the view got even better. With a steep lava flow cutting through the country side to our north; a deep valley rising into the epic Richmond peak to our south; and the volcano peak rising ahead; it was quite a rewarding climb.

We reached the penultimate section of the climb; the sparse slopes of the volcano summit. A short blast of rain swept through and drenched us and the winds really started to pick up here. Suddenly we were cold where before we had been stifling. There is an entire forest of dead ash trees which died in the heat of the last eruption; but didn’t burn; leaving a ghostly forest of trees in twisted shapes around the path; made eerier by the clouds rolling through intermittently.

As we approached the summit, maybe fifteen minutes from the end, our guide stopped and told us he would go no further and we would have to go it alone the rest of the way. We weren’t totally sure if we were making the right choice but we ditched the backpack with him; and started toward the top.

This last section made me question our choices a lot… it was so intensely windy! You couldn’t just walk up the slope… you had to carefully lift one foot and shuffle it forward just a foot length before putting it down again; otherwise the wind would snatch your foot sideways before you realised what was happening. We walked on the windward side of the “path”, a steep razorback approaching the crater rim, so if you fell or slipped you had the most distance to catch yourself. 

With our entire bodies leaning into the wind and pushing upslope we cautiously kept onwards. It felt like forever, and more than a few times we had to stop and crouch down low to the ground and hang on to the rock as a wild gust of wind roared over the top of us. We couldn’t hear each other speak and the volume if you looked into the wind directly was absolutely deafening.

As we approached the edge of the crater, we were both feeling strong trepidation about how bad of an idea this was… and I was terrified of finding the edge suddenly right under us. As the crater came into view we drew to a halt and exchanged looks of awe. 

No photo we took could do it justice. 

A huge crater, with enormous stepped ledges on the eastern side holding a magnificent yellow pool of liquid, draws the eye down and down into the depths past a tightly layered rock face into an oval expanse at the bottom. Gouts of steam are puffing out of crevasses across the base and on the sides framing a large vent in the centre of the crater floor. 

It was absolutely fascinating. I couldn’t wrap my head around the scale of what we were looking at; and in every direction there was something else to catch the eye. Ryan was completely spellbound. The wind was roaring in our ears, and then in the moments between, when the air is still, the complete silence is deafening. A strong sense of the surreal hung over both of us.

Eventually, 5? 10? 20? minutes later, we pulled ourselves away from the view. With a selfie to break the trance and pull us back to the modern world, we started back down the slope.

Easier said than done! 

After reaching our guide I re-donned the backpack and we continued on down the slope; but the wind had picked up even more. I was occasionally just standing still with my feet side on to the slope and the wind was literally pushing me down the hill, I ‘skiied’ down several sections in a few meters at a time. Not my favourite feeling!

I was very grateful when we reached the deep ruts forming into the tops of the ridge line as I could hide most of my body into them and use them as a wind break while I walked. 

With the highlight of the hike seen and behind us; we settled into the steady descent back along the trail. We both took quite a few slips and falls along the path, tripping on vines, unseen holes and the deep wet foliage on trail. Thankfully, no injuries, probably because when you fall into wet, dense shrub and grass it’s like falling onto a soft (smushy) bed.

Although the descent felt just as difficult, it really wasn’t as we took 4 hours to make the ascent and only 2 hours to return. 

Our Guide

I must take a side step here to mention our guide, who has made me question all conventional wisdom about health and fitness.

As I mentioned, he started the day off with fried chicken and a Guiness. He proceeded to walk the entire hike barefoot, and only wore his crocs on the beach. He smoked probably 10 joints along the way and I don’t think he stopped smoking for longer than 5 minutes at any given time. Even when the rain shower drenched us he held his back pack up over his head and sheltered his face under it to keep smoking. 😂

We carried about 6L of water (~6quarts) between the two of us and he took a small, maybe 500mL, bottle of water with him and didn’t drink it.

Despite all this, he pretty much ran up the trail, and was generally about 100 meters ahead of us. I wryly observed to Ryan that it was a good thing I didn’t want to know anything about the area or the hike as we would never catch up to him to exchange any words! Spot the Guide – I promise he is in every one of these pictures haha.

He ate rice and fried chicken wings with a fork on the descent where Ryan and I stacked it multiple times and on reaching the bottom he told us that we were very slow and he hadn’t even broken a sweat doing that hike hahahhaah.

So basically, stop going to the gym, eating healthy and drinking water. Just smoke constantly, drink beer, eat fried chicken and you can run up a mountain barefoot without breaking a sweat! Hahahah!

Darkview Falls

Once we got back to the start; we were picked up once more by the taxi with some lunch for us – fried chicken and macaroni. We devoured it!

He then strongly persuaded us to go via Darkview Falls even though we were both more inclined to head back to the boat as we were exhausted. It later developed that the taxi driver had sneakily organized another group to go to the falls and was planning to double dip on the ride back to our bay. “Private taxi” ha ha.

So we went to the falls and took a look around, they were very pretty but were much more suited for a day relaxing and picnicking. We were both disappointed we didn’t have our swimmers but they were lovely and cool in the shade.

Eventually we piled into the taxi with another group and dropped them off along the way back to our bay. 

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That evening I think I was in bed around 6pm hahah. We were both completely flattened. I would definitely not recommend that hike to anyone without a basic level of fitness; I think we were at the more unfit end of the scale to be honest haha.

Despite how physically challenging this hike was; I am so glad we did it. The dry lava flow river, the views and the volcano itself were truly stunning and an intense experience I will never forget.