Hiking El Tucuche

On July 23 my friend Olivia and I hiked El Tucuche, the second highest mountain in Trinidad at 936m. Cerro del Aripo is the highest at 940m and this small difference has led to some debate regarding which is actually the highest on the island. Considering the proximity of the summit to the ocean the change in elevation is quite abrupt and yields a relatively steep mountain carpeted in lush rainforest.

The summit can be approached from the north or the south and we trudged in from the south (near St. Joseph). The hike itself is along well maintained trail and is mostly in forest except near the summit where clearings normally provide spectacular views of the north coast - the day we climbed the skies were overcast and we found ourselves in cloud which obscured the views. Due to the recent rains the trail was saturated and made incredible sucking sounds as we walked, leading both of us to suspect the water bottles in our backpacks... another phenomena that I had never seen before was the huge number of crabs littering the trail - a long way from the nearest ocean or stream.

Along the trail we met a young Biology PhD candidate named Stevlin who was spending the night on the summit in order to search out the golden tree frog, whom he hopes to study as part of his thesis. This little frog is endemic to Trinidad and is only found near the summits of El Tucuche and Cerro del Aripo due to the relatively temperate climate at the higher elevations.

After a quick nap at the summit we descended back to the car about 8 hours after leaving. Another good day out.