Hiking Guam - Mount Schroeder to Inarajan
This week's hike with the Guam Boonie Stompers, Inc. was rated "very difficult"... and that it sure was! In the description it was described as a 4.5 mile hike for 6 hours... while it was indeed 6 hours long, it was almost DOUBLE the distance! I prepared myself for the hike up the steep Mount Schroeder earlier in the week by hiking steep trails I was already familiar with while carrying the 5 liters of water in my backpack I had planned on bringing (the description said 4 quarts minimum but I wanted to bring a little extra for emergencies or if anyone didn't bring enough). Looking back, I wish I had just brought my 3 liter bladder Camelpak and an extra water bottle. The 5 liters was a lot of weight on my back during the initial steep climb up and I ended up not using it all anyways.
We began the our adventure wandering around the streets of the neighborhood adjacent to where the trail begins. I read a blog about starting from the road of the radio station at the top of the street, but we didn't go down that way. We parked nearby the Merizo Ball Park and made our way through the neighborhood. Our guide was telling us about a man who owns property near the trail and is a real "troublemaker" when it comes to groups wanting to hike up the mountain. Whether or not he owns the actual property the trail lies on is up for debate... but our guides took us all around the neighborhood before entering the trail in order to avoid going near his property.
The very start of the trail included climbing and crawling upwards through literal TUNNELS of sword grass. The girl who was directly in front of me during the climb was wearing super short spandex so any shots I got of the tunnels were overshadowed by her butt, lmao. So I decided not to use those in my video or blog here. I honestly can't imagine the kinds of cuts she got... I wore short sleeves and regret that decision because here I am two days later the cuts all over my arms haven't healed at all. By the end of the hike, one guy who wore shorts to his knees and high-top boots was complaining about the cuts on his legs so I can only imagine the amount of cuts she got. That's one of the weird things about the cuts you get from sword grass... you don't really feel them as they are happening but a few hours later you know they got ya! I went out later that night and, not thinking about it at all, sprayed perfumed on my wrist and cried like a little baby from the burning.
Not my picture but this is what the sword grass tunnels were like. This photo comes from one of the only decent, informative blogs I could find about the hike over Mount Schroeder. Here is the link to that blog- https://m.ramblr.com/mobile/explore?trip_id=109539#pg=mymap&trip_id=109539After crawling through the sword grass and climbing through the steep jungle that will be our last bit of shade for quite some time, we break through to one of the lower ridges of Schroeder. The view is already amazing and I was happy to be on some somewhat level ground after almost tumbling down the mountainside about ten times. One of the times I slipped and caught myself, I heard something rolling down behind me. My sunscreen. That I hadn't applied yet. Well at least it wasn't my entire being... gotta look at the bright side!
The treacherous climb was all worth the view once reaching the top of Mount Schroeder! That first mile was probably the hardest part of the entire hike. Almost tumbling down the mountainside really got my heart racing and the 5 liters of water was really weighing me down. Thankfully, one of the guys in front of me brought an awesome stomping stick and reached it out to me to pull me up a few times when he noticed my struggle. Such a gentleman! It was good once we sat upon the peak of Mount Schroeder to catch our breath while taking in the marvelous view.
Shortly after catching a quick breath, it was time to make our way over to Mount Llichos. We were so incredibly fortunate our day was breezy and partly cloudy with some light showers. Perfect weather for a hike like this. The clouds provided the much needed shade as we made our way across the ridge lines. The breeze, even though strong enough to hinder my balance at times, kept us cool. The two light showers that came down upon us were so incredibly refreshing and energizing. I think the weather was a major factor as to why I didn't use all of my water... I was expecting to be in the hot, dry sun all day long sweating my ass off and risking dehydration. Don't get me wrong though, I absolutely sweat my ass off.
A few of us fell to the rear of the group during this leg of the hike. I'm not ashamed about it... I knew I had a long journey ahead of me and purposely paced myself. All of the information I could find about the hike to Mount Schroeder and beyond recommended taking it slow and that's exactly what I was going to do. I also tend to step to the side and take photos and video clips of the group hiking which slows me down too. But like I said, I was in no rush. We were some of the last to reach the top of Mount Llichos where we were to rest and have lunch. Because we were of the last to reach the summit, we had the least amount of time to rest. As everyone started to get themselves together to start up again, I felt like I had JUST caught my breath. No biggie though, I was taking it slow so I wasn't feeling completely exhausted just yet.
Now it was time for our descent into the "badlands". Speaking of badlands, I rather enjoy that show Into The Badlands... I like the post-apocalyptic stuff and it's got a different feel than anything else in that genre in my opinion. ANYWAY. The badlands. Basically the badlands of Guam are areas of barren land caused by erosion that people like to go off-roading on. The trek through the badlands was nice change of terrain. Even though it wasn't all that flat at first and the ground was rocky, the soil was fairly soft. That and I didn't have the heightened fear of slipping down a mountainside and tumbling to my death. I'm being a little dramatic but seriously... I fell A LOT. More time than anyone should fall in their entire life.
At this point we were about halfway finished our hike. Most of the elevation gains were behind us and now it was time to reach for our short, refreshing side trip to the top of Inarajan Falls, one of the most popular waterfalls in Guam. We slid down what our guides called the "sliding hill of death", which sounds intimidating but was really just a fun slide down a steep dirt hill to fight more sword grass. A short clip of the slide down is in the video I put together of this hike... It will be at the bottom of this blog ☺
After fighting and wandering through more sword grass we come to a wide trail made by off-roaders which made it easy to navigate our way to Inarajan Falls. It wasn't long before the trail offered us some kind shade through little patches of jungle and lines of palm trees. By this time my back pack was significantly lighter from all of the water I had been drinking but I still had about 3 liters left.
Even though some of the trails were overgrown and full of holes it was nice to go down in elevation rather than up. It was a side trip to the falls though, meaning we'd have to walk back up afterwards. I really need to do some more uphill conditioning... my calf muscles were so worn out by this point I hated even the littlest bit of an incline. I knew we were nearing the end though and it really wasn't all that bad. Mind over body. Mind over body.
The falls was a nice refresher. There was a small waterfall away from the top of the falls that we could stand under to cool off. I took my boots and socks off to walk in the water because I could feel a blister forming on my toe and didn't want to make it any worse with wet shoes. This turned out to be a bad idea because the rocks of the falls were extremely slimy and on my way down from the small waterfall I fell hard and continued to slide away for about 8 feet. Luckily the small waterfall was a great distance away from the top of the falls so I wasn't in any real danger. Just a super bruised butt and elbow... nothing I couldn't bounce back from! I had fallen so much already that I wasn't surprised when it happened.
Feeling refreshed, we head back up the trail and soon reach the off-roading trail called the Dandan MTB Trail. This was by far the easiest part of the hike thanks to all the vehicles that pave the way here. It was also the most boring because landscape is pretty flat and uninteresting. All the sights to see were in our past... then I saw a Carabao! I had only seen one once before at the Chamorro Village. They offer rides on Carabao on Wednesday nights while the big BBQ events take place and the place is swarming with tourists. I don't really like the idea of riding animals at fairs but it was pretty awesome to see one just doing its thing. It barely paid any attention to us.
As we approached the end of our adventure, there was one last hill to hike up... and it was a pretty big one. I feel like I'm just complaining at this point but seriously, I was so over going uphill! Haha, I knew it was coming to an end though as I could see the radio tower standing tall, which meant we were close to the Inarajan Middle School where our cars were parked and lemonade awaited us! (The lemonade is really half-and-half, which I like better than regular lemonade)
Overall, I really enjoyed this hike. Even though at times I struggled and I fell down more times than I have in my entire life, I would do it again. The rest of the day, I kept saying, "Never again, never again. Crossed off my list, but never again." I think that was because the exhaustion had really set in on me. Now, two days later, after I've had time to reflect... I realize it was a great experience and as long as I stay active and do some better conditioning beforehand, next time around will only be easier. The views and the challenge itself were worth it. 🇬🇺❤⛰🤙
Check out the video below for a closer look at this challenging hike!
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more adventures in Guam!