Hiking up Concord Falls

We really wanted to make sure that we had an opportunity to head up to at least one of the several picturesque waterfalls on Grenada before we left. With the weather window countdown clock started, time was running out. In the end we decided to go with Concord Falls and had a guide take us on an island tour as part of the trip.

There are two ways to visit Concord Falls. The easy way that most people do, is to just drive to the end of the road where the first of the two falls is situated below a couple gift shops. Two sets of stone steps take you from the road down to the falls and the natural swimming pool at the bottom. The other way is to hike up from the end of the road to the upper falls. The second option takes you through farm land, tropical rain forest and requires that you slop through mud, ford six streams and clamber over slippery boulders. Understandably, we chose the second option!

The hike up was reasonably gentle. The streams we crossed were cool and refreshing. There was a fair amount of shade provided by abundant foliage. It was very comfortable, though mucky. We're sure glad we opted to go the extra distance.

Our guide had a lot of information to share. The trail we were on used to be part of an old plantation road and we could see old bridge foundations peeking through the overgrowth. The soil is very fertile so the local villagers walk up here to plant gardens. We saw many banana trees, a few nutmeg trees, cocoa trees, clove trees, orange trees, a mango tree and many others. Our heads were swimming with the amount of edible food growing right there, wild.

On the way we got to snack on cocoa beans. You don't chew these, just suck on them. Chewing brings out a very bitter flavour. Sucking the white paste off the bean is like eating a natural sour candy. Aidan calls it "healthy candy."

Aidan saw lots of little fish in the streams and pools. He even found some kind of crayfish creatures dancing along the bottoms. I think the cool water reminded him of home, as evidenced by the huge grin on his face.

Aaron wanted to have his feet dipped at each crossing to help keep cool but got too cold swimming in the pools for long. He ended up with shivers after only a few minutes in the deep pool at the top.

Austin challenged himself to swim as close to the falls as he could, and insisted on finding alternate routes across streams and over boulders to the falls.

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