I have done it! Virgin Island National Park is the 63rd of 63 (at the time of writing this post) National Parks. Getting to the park is not that hard as you need to fly into St. Thomas and then exit the airport and get into a taxi cab (van) and head to Red Hook. The fare is $23 plus a luggage fee and my total fare was $25. The ride from the airport to the ferry terminal is about 20 – 25 minutes. My driver was on the phone the entire time trying to get rid of his night shift but he had no takers, guess he was working that night At the ferry terminal, you need to get your ferry ticket and these are $8.15 for non-resident plus $4 per bag. The ferry runs every hour and I was able to get onto the 4pm ferry as it was loading. The ferry was not that crowded and I chose to sit on the top of the ferry to enjoy the sun and scenery. It was very nice short ride maybe 10 minutes and then I was on St. John! The ferry drops you out in downtown Cruz Bay, St. John and my place of stay was a short 5 minute walk away although all up hill! The National Park Visitor Center is off to the left of the ferry terminal and about a 2 minute walk. You would go left off the ferry and then make the first left, walk past the US Post Office, turn left and about another few hundred yards is the Visitor Center on the left. At the outdoor passport station there is a sign that says do not stamp your nations passport, guess some people have done that over the years. There was a Ranger inside and we talked about the park and other parks for a bit, she had a wealth of knowledge.
I did hiking in my time at the park and did not venture into some of the North Shore swimming areas so the review of these areas is missing. I am not much of a beach kind of person hence why I skipped these areas.
The island has a speed limit in town of 10 miles per hour and outside of town you can open it up to 20! There are really two roads in the park/ on the island one being 10 (center line) and then 20 (North Shore). Route 20 (North Shore) goes to the North of the island and takes you to a good portion of the beaches in the park.
Reef Bay Sugar Mill – The trail head is about mile marker 6 on the Center Line / Route 10 road. Parking is on the side of the road both East and West of the road. The hike is 2.6 miles one way and at the end of one way you have made it to an old sugar mill and the beach. The start of the trail from the road there is a few stairs to go down then a map of the hike showing all of the various hikes that start at this trail head. Hiking this trail is about going down about 1500 feet then seeing the water and ruins. You hike through a forest with the trail being mostly in shade, good when it is well into the high 80’s. An interesting thing about the trail was it was the first trail I have been on that I can remember that had an AED for heart attacks, should have been a bit of foreshadowing for me. The park service put lots of markers about vegetation along the trail, a good place to stop and learn. The trail is well maintained and it would be hard to get lost on this trail. Just after the Petroglyph Trail head there is a “Y” in the trail and at that “Y” Reef Bay is .8 miles left. If you chose to go to the left at the “Y” you head to Lameshur Bay, not my destination so I went to the right. I do have to say that by the time I got to the flat part of the trail my legs were burning from all the down hill hiking that I had done to get here and was not thinking of the hike back to my car. The old sugar mill was cool to see the ruins and think about all the hard work and labor that went into making sugar here on the island. I did bring my swimsuit and a beach towel which meant at the bottom of the trail I cooled down in the water! The water is a blue that you can only get when it is clear and boy was it worth the hike down. I did not notice the two vault toilets that had a space to change when I got down to the ruins and dropped my shorts changing into my swimsuit. Nobody was around so it was not a big deal. After a bit of cooling off in the water I went back to my pack/clothes and changed back into my shorts. A snack followed as I knew I needed some additional energy to get back to the car, but did not know how much extra energy I needed! The first part of the journey back was not bad with a slight incline and I was feeling good. Then came the major elevation gain part of the hike kicking my butt. There was a fallen tree along the trail which you had to go over or under, I chose over both ways. On the way to the top, I used it as a seat to rest for a bit as I sure needed a rest. HIking up a bit further, I started making deals with myself to do a little pushing but also ensure I got to the top. I would say to myself get to this point on the trail and you can rest for 30 seconds. This kind of deal making got me to the top. The hike up the 2.6 mile took me about 2 hours so you can see that my pace was very slow. Seeing the trail head was a welcome site for me as I knew that I had made it to the top without the use of the AED which is on the trail. My mistake, or one of many mistakes, was that I parked uphill about 300 yards from the trail head. Not a big deal I thought on the way down but when I was coming up and heading to the car I had to make a deal with myself to get to the car! All in all the hike is wonderful and it something that with all of the hard work to get back to the top I would do again. Before doing it again, I may get into some better shape as I am out of shape for sure.
Petroglyph Trail – When you head down the Reef Bay trail there are a few off shoots to other trails and the Petroglyph trail is one of these trails. The trail is .22 miles to the petroglyphs. The trail head is well marked and going down I detoured and was thankful that I did so. I was able to see my first deer on the hike and it was two young deer one male and one female. Towards the end of the trail you head up some rocks and then you come to the petroglyphs. There are a few pools of water, but the water was not that clear since it was standing water. I think if there is a rainy season here there would be a waterfall into the first pool and then water will flow into the second and down further. When I went it was void of water except for the two pools. I was greeted by two deer who came out of the woods to say hello to me. Seeing the petroglyphs was cool and is worth the short easy journey. It is highly recommended if you are heading down the Reef Bay trail.
Francis Bay Trail – The trail head is at the end of the road for Francis Bay/beach. Parking is limited at the beach but there are plenty of places to pull off on the left side of the road. This trail is an easy trail in that it starts out by the beach as a board walk, some of the boards are loose, but the walking on this trail is fairly smooth. The boardwalk piece will lead you to a picnic area on the beach that when I went was empty. Additionally, the board walk has two viewing areas for a shallow pond. The pond has flamingos in it when I was hiking so I made a not to finish the hike and come back with my larger lens to get some better photos of the birds. Back to the picnic area you continue to the right and you have a slight uphill hike but it is not that strenuous. The uphill part still goes along the pond but it is a bit harder to see the pond. There are two seating areas near the top of the trail to see the pond but some maintenance needs to be done with this area as the grass was a bit overgrown when I was there. A few yards further you would come to the Annaberg School ruins. At the ruins you have two choices head back down the way you came of go down via the road. I selected the road since I needed to get my longer lens for some bird photos. The Francis Bay trail is only about .5 miles long and the boardwalk part is handicapped friendly with a few benches as well as the viewing areas. I recommend this hike for anyone. Check out the photos below of the flamingos.
Annaberg Historic District and Sugar Mill – The island was home to many sugar plantations and Annaberg is one of these plantations. The plantation was owned by a Dutch man as the island was a Dutch colony before it became British then American. There is a small parking area, but don’t worry it is not that crowded, at the trail head. The trail takes you up a boarded path that has 78 steps to get you to the top and the start of the 1/4 mile trail around the mill/plantation. Don’t worry it is not 78 straight steps but a series of steps and the Park Service even put a bench on the trail about 1/2 way up/down. If you take a taxi to the mill/plantation then you get to bypass the hike as the taxi stop is at the top of the hill. If there are some of your group who don’t want to hike you could drop them off and hike the stairs yourself. Once at the mill/plantation you can see ruins of slave quarters, furnace for baking, storage buildings and even a windmill that was used to grind the cane into liquid sugar. Along the 1/4 mile trail there are many stops telling you about the ruins and what was happening on the plantation. A few times it mentioned that the slaves outnumbered the Dutch plantation owner. The plantation, like most plantations, did not treat there slaves well. You can even see the dungeon where slaves would go when they were really bad, not just after beatings. The wall of the dungeon has some artwork scratched into the wall and it was stated that the drawing was of the plantation owners home. The sugar mill is worth the time to drive here and walk around.
Leinster Bay Trail – The trailhead is just a few steps from the Annaberg Historic District and Sugar Mill parking area. Exit the parking area towards the road and turn right and the trail head is straight ahead. The trail is about .9 miles one way and is mainly flat. The hike is along the shore of Leinster Bay so it is beautiful. A few places you do have to go into the woods or get your feet wet, I chose the woods. Many people who do this hike actually bring their beach equipment and will stay at the beach relaxing, snorkeling or swimming. Me I am not a beach guy so I was just hiking and taking photos. After you get to the beach if you continue onwards you can see that the beach, it is rocky, is made up of broken off coral. While hiking or beach lounging you have some friends who are the feral goats on the island. I ran into a group while hiking the beach and these fellas were on the side of the mountain and working their way down the rock face. I stopped and watched them for a bit before continuing. Some of the goats were in front of me so I had some hiking friends but there we not very talkative with me only each other. They did not hurt my feelings but it was time I passed them and went on my way. There was another cluster or three along the way to the beach or at the beach. The goats even went into the water and were drinking the water from the bay. I would recommend this beach as a quiet place to hang out as not many people are at this beach.
Caneel Hill Trail – Saying it is a hill is most likely true since it is 719 feet in elevation and only .6 miles but being out of shape it was a tough hike. I was given the trail name and told it was not that hard, then again someone thirty told me about the trail. The trail head is just past the park’s visitor center on the road and to the left of the maintenance area. There is a shopping mall on the right along with the maintenance area and the trail is just a short distance from the maintenance area. The Caneel trail intersects with the Lind Point Trail and joins the Margaret Hill trail. At the junction with the Lind Point trail and Margaret Hill. When I was thinking of which way to go a young man confirmed what I was told that the view from the top was worth the hike so up I went. I should have know it would not be getting any easier. Margaret Hill was another 840 feet in elevation gain but only .6 more miles. The view from the top is wonderful but the hike up to the top is not for people who are out of shape like me. I did make it and was glad to be at the top to rest for a long time. Along the way to up you can start seeing through the trees and get some great views of Cruz Bay and the water around the island. These little peeks gave me a bit of energy, and a place to rest so that I could get to the top. The trail itself was easy to follow and the only hard part was going up 1559 feet in 1.2 miles. There also was a nice bench attached to some rocks that allowed you to rest and see a nice view of the water and all the way to St. Thomas, and that was a good place for me to rest before I got to the top of the hill. I would recommend the trail as the view from the top is one that is wonderful and worth the journey.
Saltpond Bay – The bay is .3 miles one way from the parking area and the parking area is limited. Good news is that there are not tons of people here due to the limited parking. Also getting here is a bit of a journey as it is one the East side of the island and I was staying on the West side of the island. The beach is nice and there are picnic tables and shade by the trees. The .3 mile hike is down hill to the water but is not that hard of a hike. It is a great quiet place to relax and enjoy the water, after a hike.
Ram Head Trail – The trail is .9 miles one way from the sign which is on the other side of the bay from the Saltpond Bay trail. The trail go along with bay for a little bit and this part is small loose rocks then you come to some larger rocks and once you go over these rocks the trail will turn upwards and more dirt. Shade is at a premium on this trail and there is a little bit of it once you start the incline portion of the trail. There is a switchback and the trail is heading up on a long straightway. Towards the top you may feel a breeze and if you look to your left you can see the ocean and a little cove. I was thankful for the breeze and also was able to capture some photos while enjoying the cool ocean breeze. Onward to the top I went and at the top you got a 360 degree view and it was amazing. The elevation gain is only a couple of hundred feet so it is a trail that almost anyone could accomplish.
Drunk Bay Trail – The trail is .25 miles one way from the sign that is on the other side of Saltpond Bay. The trail is fairly flat and you will enjoy the eastern view of the island. I am also told this is the place to go and watch the sunrise on the island. Getting up at 0400 to drive to Saltpond Bay and then hike the half a mile to catch the sunrise was not in the cards for me so if someone else does it please let me know.
