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Jamaican Caving Notes |
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Apr 7, 2004 THE TROY TRAIL Field notes: GUY VAN RENTERGEM Crew: G. van Rentergem, R. S. Stewart, M. Taylor Time in: 9:34 EST, Time out: 19:30 EST  April the 7th, time goes incredibly fast as this was already my last day together with the JCO team. The plan was to do
the mythical Troy-Windsor Trail. The last day should end with a bang. Well I can assure you it was a BIG BANG.I have climbed high mountains, descended 3300 feet deep caves and have seen many karst regions of the world, from the Caucasus to the tropics. And certainly the high alpine karst regions are among the most dangerous region you can imagine. Everywhere bottomless crevases and sharp rock waiting to swallow you, never to be seen again. In my mind this was catalogued as the most treacherous terrains I knew. Well I can tell you I have to revise my definitions. Early in the morning at 7 o'clock, the route-taxi that Miss Lilly had arranged last night arrived on schedule at her doorstep. There we were, the three musketeers of the Troy trail, Stef, Malibu and me. On the map the distance between Troy and Windsor is only about 10 km, like they say as the crow flies. Based on my previous experience, when I visited the Cockpits before in 2001 with Adam and Sean, this would take 4 hours, maximum 6. So I took 2 liters of water and one bun and cheese. This was wrong... The drive from Windsor to Troy took us 3 hours, following the magnificent borders of Cockpit Country. The taxi drove up a small path until it was too tricky for the driver to continue. He left us and wished us good luck. There we were at the start of the trail. The first kilometers were indeed as I imagined. Not too rough, and easy-going, on a small trail winding through the hills. Some of the hills were cultivated and we saw pasture lands and yam fields. The trail got lost at the last pasture. And a steep climb up the hill gave us that magnificent view over the Cockpit Country. It looked so easy, go down again and follow the direction of the huge pine trees. There, we really lost the trail, for the first time, in the scrub. Luckily Stef had his GPS. So we decided to go through the Cockpits instead of trying to search the path. This is the toughest going imaginable. The path tried to follow the same heights meandering through the hills. But walking on a straight line through the Cockpits, well it is suicidal. Nowhere a horizontal stretch of land, only vertical rocks with razorsharp edges, huge rocks tumbling the moment you put your foot on. Everywhere crevasses and deep pits and all covered with an unimaginable tangled forest of vines, scrub and trees. At the bottom of one of the cockpits we found a pit of immeasurable depth. A wrong step and you had time enough to think how long you will be falling until you hit eventually the bottom. And then we found back the path! Well this was indeed a nice adventure... until the path was lost again in an dense forest of ferns. Again, we decided to go on a straight line in the direction of Devils Staircase. This time it was even worse. Luckily, I was in good hands. It was Stefan and Malibu who were now at home on their own terrain. And I couldn’t help much. I was a visitor, a spectator and the only thing I could do was follow them and not be a nuisance. But it was hard, I can tell you. It took us 1 hour to bring us 100 meter closer to Windsor which was still 7 km away!! During that hour we climbed 300 m down and 300 m up. This was mountaineering without a summit. It was insane. And then the second miracle happened. We hit the path again! This time, we wouldn't lose the trail, but I had already spent a great deal of my energy and my water supply was already halved. Don't forget that under the dense canopy covering the Cockpits it is like an oven and there is no breeze to bring the littlest of refreshment. Now, we were on the trail again and a dreadful march began over the old remains of the Troy Trail. It spooked through my head how the British troops and slaves made this trail hundreds of years ago. The poor devils. I also felt like a member of the fellowship from the books of Tolkien following long forgotten paths of ancient realms and kingdoms. And at last we reached the Devils Staircase. From there on it was known terrain for both Stefan and Malibu. Another two hours and we would reach Windsor again. And finally there it was, the green valley at Windsor. It took us 10 hours to reach it. I can tell you, I was very exhausted and very, very thirsty. But hey, we did it. The three of us were indeed very happy we made it. It was really a great accomplishment for both Stef and Malibu to find the route through the Cockpits. This was top class and I'm very greatful I was part of such a magnificent team! |
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