Mount Pelee I

There are three ways how to get to Mount Pelee (1397 meters above sea!)
The main route via l'Aileron (that is the full yellow line on the right).
The alternate route from the lot above Precheur (the dotted line on the left)
The longest route from the sea level at Macouba (the dotted line at the top).
Also note that you can get to the top either directly, or via a semicircular detour.
The turn to Aileron is from the last roundabout in the town of Morne Rouge
(coming from St Pierre on the road N2)

The parking lot (and the first hut) is at 800 meters, so you only have 600 to climb.

It was nearly empty, because the visibility was really low.

There were some fern palms around, which we did not see elsewhere on the island.

We were hoping that we'd get above clouds at some point...

...but as we were climbing, the situation was not improving.

When we looked back, we could no longer see the parking lot.

Only every now and then, we could see contours of surrounding mountains.

On rare occasion, the cloud cover had thinned out a bit...

...but mostly we were climbing in thick fog.

On Aileron (at 1107 meters) we caught a bit of sun...

...but soon lost it (and climbed to the Plateau des Palmistes at 1220 meters).

Here we crossed a short walk and soon came to a sign where we had to make a choice.

We could either take a shorter route (straight down on the left) or a longer one (right)
which goes alongside the caldera (you can see this on the map at the beginning)

Since we really did not see anything, we chose the shorter route
which was a seemingly infinite series of steep stairs going down into the fog.
(after huffing and puffing my way up, I really hated it)

On occasion, the fog had thinned out a bit and we could see mysterious contours around.
Sometimes a hint of reality creates much stronger impression that the reality itself.
(a fact known to women's fashion designers and horror movie creators)

After we descended about 100 meters in altitude, we could finally see a bottom of the caldera.
It was covered in a thick minijungle, which nearly swallowed the trail (going up and left).
I dubbed this place "the Cauldron of Desperation", because knowing that I will have to reclimb
the hundred meters we had just lost (and then some) did not make me happy at all.

After passing through "the Cauldron" we had to climb another looming monster above us
(and the worst part was that we did not really know how high we had to get)

At a rare moment of clearing we could see a "Sleeping Dragon"
(an old lava field covered in vegetation)

After a straining climb we came to a local peak where we encountered some strong winds
(it turned out to be Morne La Croix at 1364 meters - nearly as high as the main peak)

Then it was up and down and up and down alongside a narrow and rocky trail.

During the next clearing we could see what I believed was the main top (left)
although I am not sure as we did not have local guides with us
(you can also see that there are many "false peaks" around)

Then we descended on a small plateau with the Third Hut and from there made the final climb.
Whether we reached the actual peak or just one of the "false ones" we will never know
since in the meantime the conditions have deteriorated so much, we decided to go back
(strong wind, hail, low visibility and treacherous terrain with poorly marked path)

As we were returning through the Cauldron of Desperation, I shot some pics of fern palms
since they had very interesting moss sheaths and looked quite mysterious in the fog
(we chose to go back the same way, rather than risk an unknown route alongside the caldera,
although it later transpired that it would have been probably safer)

On our way back, we ran into a tarantula that was trying to climb a stone...

...so we briefly turned into spider paparazzi and then continued our descent.

Back in the parking lot it was just as foggy as when we left.

Finally, a word about flora. There were virtually no flowers along the trail.
Most of the mountain was covered in a thick carpet of hard plants, ferns and some tough grasses.

Only in a few spots we saw this little beauty...

...and in one place also this one.

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