Hiking the Gros Piton in St. Lucia on our Honeymoon

On our honeymoon in St. Lucia, we hiked the Gros Pitons. The views were incredible, but the climb is difficult. Here’s what to expect if it’s on your list of activities while visiting St. Lucia.

Since it’s 25 degrees with 25 mph winds in Winston-Salem today, I figured I would relive one of my favorite parts of our honeymoon in warm, balmy, sunny St. Lucia. 😉 When we were working with Heather to plan our trip, she said the Gros Pitons hike was a must-do, and she was right. The views at the top were incredible. But, it was more difficult and longer than we realized and we definitely would have been in trouble had our butler (which came with our resort room – read about it in this post) not packed a backpack for us with water!

What to bring:

• Sturdy shoes. We both wore sneakers (old running shoes for me and old CrossFit shoes for Tommy). Casual slip-on sneakers or any sort of sandals would be a disaster
• Lots of water. We went through 6 water bottles and easily could have drank more. And thankfully we were able to share with some fellow hikers who didn’t have ANY water. (Better yet – freeze a couple water bottles the night before so you have cold water at the top.)
• Snacks. A few people had fruit and trail mix at the top and shared and it tasted AMAZING.
• Bug spray & sunscreen
• Comfortable clothes – we both wore workout clothes. You’d die of heat in jeans, I think. I packed a hat, but most of the hike was shaded and it made me hot so I kept it in my backpack.
• Cash. Tip your guides and you’ll want to buy gatorade, cold water, and ice cream at the hut at the bottom when you’re done. 🙂

What to expect during the hike:

• To pay a fee – I honestly don’t remember what it was… $115 per person maybe? Whatever it is, it was worth it. The guides were great and we never would have figured it out alone. Ask them questions! They know so much about St. Lucia and its history. All of our guides were born and raised in St. Lucia and had incredible stories growing up there. We used this company (but our travel advisor handled all of it).
• Lots of sweat – don’t make yourself all pretty before this hike. 😉
• To take breaks as you go up
• To possibly go slower or faster than you want at any given time. The group stays together for the most part and unless you book a private guided hike, you’ll need to wait for others and maybe be the one waited on – it’s not a big deal, but don’t expect to charge ahead and abandon the group!
• 3 tour guides – one to lead, one to take up the back, and one to guide people who give up and want to go back early (this happened on our hike and apparently is pretty common)
• Very steep portions, going up and down. You’ll often use your hands to climb up.
• Often slippery sections of mud and wet rock – four people in our group slipped at one point, including me and Tommy
• To go SLOWLY going down – use the railings to hold onto while going down
• The total hike takes 4-8 hours, depending on the group. We took 4 hours, which is apparently pretty average, maybe a little fast.
• The hike is strenuous and somewhat technical. Know your limits. You should be in decent shape to complete this hike.
• We took a van from our resort with about 10 other people. This was driving up to the base of the mountain

What to expect at the top:

• INCREDIBLE views
• Fog. We waited for about 15 minutes for the fog to clear out and could see FOREVER – it was beautiful
• Wind
• I’m not really scared of heights, but if you are, you’ll still be okay since you can stay VERY far back from the ledge. Others walked to the end of the rocks and looked down. (There are lots of bushes so it’s not a crazy steep drop off or anything.)
  

Our Gros Pitons Hike

Okay, now onto some pictures from our hike! Let me know if you have any questions!

If you’ve been to St. Lucia and hiked it, how long did it take your group?

We quickly learned after completing the hike that locals and employees would ask us if we’d hiked it and then immediately ask how long it took us. It’s like a rite of passage for visiting! It was fun to hear their stories about doing the hike. Only one person that we met did it under 4 hours! And a few said they would never climb the Pitons it because it’s too hard. Ha!