USVI-On-Line

Every year we go to STJ we say we'll go see the petroglyphs, then we get down there and decide its foolish to sweat bullets hiking there when we could be snorkeling or lying on a beach.

But, I'm getting pressured by one of my kids and my exercise freak wife (sorry STJDreams) to hike it next week. I think we'll go from Little Lamshur to Reef Bay trail to Petroglyphs.

This hike appears to be roughly 2.1 miles of sweat and grime. Has anyone done this, and if so how long did it take?

We're thinking we'd start early when it's cooler and we can just sweat off the rum remnants.

thanks ahead!

thanks Lovermont (love that name), I've got the same maps and descriptions printed out from map bandit, just curious how long this will take me. I'm sure we'll be ready for a swim by the time we get back to Lamshur. Oh, by the way, all our 20 somethihngs said forget it, they'll hit a beach while we're sweating. LOL!

surfnh wrote:just curious how long this will take me.

Well, if my memory serves me, I'd say about an hour each way. But the times I've done it, we've continued down to Reef Bay, and then headed back to Lameshur. Tell those 20 somethings, that the 50 year old from VT can do it!

Lovermont

This might not be your stle ,but if you want to do it th easy way (keeping in mind that this will take the entire day) you can do it with the NPS and ge picked up by a boat and go back to Cruz bay that way--
I think your trail sounds better though.......

Has anyone tried it from the other direction? (approaching from the west side). Getting there via the Gifft Hill area. I am sure lots of you have....

We made a lame attempt last trip. Not that I am right ALL the time, but MOST of the time.... I told Ned we were going to need food and water, but we had very little...we went and only had a small water bottle each. After about 15-20 minutes I could tell that it wasn't going to swing it. I need a ton of water.

There was an outcropping of rocks that would have to be passed and who knows how much longer to get there. Not knowing didn't make it any easier.

I know it isn't a deserted island, but you never know it might be one of those days where someone wouldn't be around to give you help...

But it was a cool beach and neat trail to get there and if we were better prepared we might have gone for it.

If anyone has done this, would love to know if this is too much for a 9 year old.

We hiked all the way down from Centerline and all the way back up (!!) with our then-8 year old last year and she was fine. Tired, but fine. She's quite athletic- her younger sister (5) was having none of it and ended up on Daddy's shoulders all the way back up. I would NOT recommend that! But we loved the long hike.

Lovermont wrote:

surfnh wrote:just curious how long this will take me.

Well, if my memory serves me, I'd say about an hour each way. But the times I've done it, we've continued down to Reef Bay, and then headed back to Lameshur. Tell those 20 somethings, that the 50 year old from VT can do it!

Lovermont

Yep, the 20 somethings know the 50 somethings can do it, they just prefer to hang, drink rum, get a tan, etc, etc. Just wait until they get the beer gut and have to exercise, right!

Here is a link to an alternate trail found by Gerald Singer. We where going to try it this year but never got around to it. Friends of ours tried it without a copy of the directions and lost the trail somewhere above the White Cliffs and turned back. If you do it, let us know how it went.

http://seestjohn.com/st_john_life/life- ... te-cliffs/

Not sure about the alt. route from Gift Hill, but I can speak from experience (painful - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hlight=54b) regarding the other two routes...

If your goal really is just to see the Petroglyphs, I'd encourage you to go via the Reef Bay trailhead off of Centerline (basically halfway between Cruz and Coral). If you go early in the morning, there's always a few open spots next to the stone staircase and it's a much neater trail than the one from Lameshur.

Also, the Lameshur trail over to where it intersects with Reef bay is basically one monster hill up an over. So if you go that way, you've got to climb that hill twice (once on the way there and once on the way back). With the Reef Bay trail, it's about a mile and some change straight down to the Glyphs and then the only hard part is the trip back up. But again, there's lots of cool stuff to see along the way.

Regardless, if you're in decent shape and take plenty of water, you'll be fine. I'd say roundtrip from either trailhead is two hours of hiking plus an extra 30 minutes to explore the Glyphs.

Have fun, and it's worth mentioning again, take plenty of water.

I just looked at the map, you get there via Gifft Hill road, but I think actually we were going from the area between Fish Bay and Reef Bay? Then walking eastward....

There is a really steep hill you descend, then end on a really cool rocky beach...

djmom,

We hiked the reef bay beach to the reef bay trail a couple of years ago. We 'scrambled' around te rocks but I think there is another path that we didn't find.

Once we got to the bottom of the reef bay trail, the mosquitoes swarmed us so we headed back.

It was a great hike, hot, but a beautiful beach.

So we have done the Reef Bay Trail from Centerline in the past. We stopped at the petroglyphs, went on down to the sugar mill and then took a break on the beach - great hike. On the way back up we attempted to find the Reef Bay House. I used the directions out of Fins, Feet and 4WD. We totally missed it and ended up at Par Force before turning back. Has anyone been to the Reef Bay House? And advice on how to get there?

I'm quite sure we'll do it from Lamshur, we're looking at it as a calorie burner I suppose. Then, a good dip when we return. We'll bring lots of water, absolutely!

tropicdawg wrote:On the way back up we attempted to find the Reef Bay House. I used the directions out of Fins, Feet and 4WD. We totally missed it and ended up at Par Force before turning back. Has anyone been to the Reef Bay House? And advice on how to get there?

Hey Dawg,

Here's a picture of the Reef Bay Great House from last May.


As you're heading back to Lameshur from the Reef Bay Trail, turn left fairly early on, and head straight up the path for less than 1/4 mile. I don't remember it being difficult to find at all. I'm wondering if you just didn't go far enough.

Lovermont