Hiking La Soufriere; the tallest sub-areal volcano in the Lesser Antilles island arc

At the base of the volcano our adventure began,

Majestic and tall she stood,

The first tropical biome we were about to scan,

Hiking up twelve hundred meters we would

              Going up the volcano, we had two stops along the way. The first stop was a basaltic lava flow from an eruption, full of beautiful plagioclase, olivine, and hornblende phenocrysts, representing the more primitive material extruded from La Soufriere. Most island arc volcanoes erupt more felsic lavas, however the lack of large magma chambers under the volcano hinder extensive differentiation, causing more mafic lavas to be erupted. The second stop was another lava flow, this time more andesitic. The rock from the second stop is younger and was deposited after a magma chamber had developed, allowing for some differentiation and therefore a more felsic composition.

At the Top

Windy, raining, gusting, clouds,

Obscuring the volcanic dome,

Such high speed fog did enshroud,

As we traversed the crater in roam 

              After a long, steep, treacherous hike, our group finally made it to the rim of the volcano. Visible from the top, at least at first, was the basaltic lava dome which has been built up since the last eruption of La Soufriere in 1979. Degassing from the magma underneath was visible and smellable from the rim in the form of smelly sulphur dioxide being emitted from the dome. There was also a pool of sulphur rich water, endearingly named Betka's pool, at the bottom of the cone and an alluvial fan as well. Not long after reaching the top, the clouds came in and we were bombarded with wind and rain. Our view was obscured but that didn't stop us from enjoying our time up there, as well as our lunch.

Heading Back Down

Down the volcano was the longest part,

As our knees screamed and yelled,

Past illegal marijuana farms--crafty and smart,

Our thrill for adventure thoroughly quelled  

              After lunch, we headed down the leeward side of La Soufriere, ready to get out of the rain and back to the sun and rainforest. On our way down, we encountered a marijuana farm in the distance, but stayed on our path. Closer to the bottom, we encountered the dry river bed of the Wallibou River, which provided a perfect path to our destination. The sides of this river bed were full of alluvial deposits with rounded volcanic clasts of all sizes, along with being almost 10m high in some places. We followed the path of the river right down to the sea.

              What an adventure the day was. Never in any of our wildest dreamed could we have imagined that we would start the day hiking up the windward side of the tallest sub-aerial volcano in the lesser, over looking the Atlantic Ocean, to arrive at the top of the crater of La Sourfriere and traverse the crater ridge in a furious gale of high speed winds and spontaneous rain, to finish by hiking down along the dry river bed of the Wallibou River and arrive –unscathed for the most part –at a glorious black sand beach. However our journey did not stop here. We leisurely walked along the beach until in the distance we saw it. The three motors powered her sleek white hull. Indeed, our journey was about to be taken seaward. All 14 of us plus our La Soufriere guide, Enos, pilled into this high powered small boat to take a wild adventure on the sea back to our hotel. Throughout our journey we passed two rock outcrops that were featured in Pirates of the Caribbean. The ride was stunning and exhilarating as the little boat jostled about the choppy waves. All in all, the day could not have possibly gone any better than the way it unfolded.

Authored by Tess and Ivano