Hike Mt Liaguiga with kid(s)?

Anyone take their kid(s) to hike Mt. Liamuiga? Looking for excursion and/or operator recommendation to get my family, including my 7 year old, to the top. Looking to hear any feedback from anyone that has either attempted or completed this feat! Any particular excursion and/or operator to go with?

You may want to watch some youtube videos concerning the hike. Search for Mt Liamuiga hike. It is a long hike, about 2-3 hours up.

You may want to watch some youtube videos concerning the hike. Search for Mt Liamuiga hike. It is a long hike, about 2-3 hours up.

Yes I know. We hike here at home regularly.

Royston does a great job.

Didn't go myself, but heard this is as much of a scramble as a hike. Quite strenuous.

My point about the videos is to show the type of trail you will be on compared to what you may hike on at home.

My point about the videos is to show the type of trail you will be on compared to what you may hike on at home.

Oh ok. Makes sense. Thanks.

Did you end up doing this hike on your cruise? I am planning to do it but am mildly worried about the time crunch and getting back to the ship.

I’d prefer to do a private tour (through Thenford Grey), because it’s half the cost and not as many people as the cruise ship’s excursion, but would love to hear other people’s feedback on how tight they made it with time.

Even with the guarantee of the ship waiting for us, I’d prefer not to do the ship’s excursion because I don’t want to have to wait on 50 people who may or may not be at our hiking skill level. We are from Colorado and hike 14,000 foot mountains a few times each summer, and do 2,000+ foot inclines weekly during the non-winter months, so I’m fairly confident in our ability to make it up faster than most, but maybe not fast enough to get back to the ship as early as I’d like. Any feedback?

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Nope. They were dredging the harbor and we had to skip the stop. Ended up in Dominica instead.

We did this tour 3 years ago.We chose Poinciana Tours and was very pleased with our day.

We were off the ship as soon as we could get off (8:30)and found them waiting for us . As we were the only couple going we left immediately which was nice and arrived at the hike before the cruise ship excursions got there. (we actually made good timing and was headed back down and passed hikers headed up and ones that turned around because it was harder than they thought!) We were back to the ship between 2 and 3 leaving us a little while to look at the shops in the port area.

We did this tour 3 years ago.We chose Poinciana Tours and was very pleased with our day.

 

We were off the ship as soon as we could get off (8:30)and found them waiting for us . As we were the only couple going we left immediately which was nice and arrived at the hike before the cruise ship excursions got there. (we actually made good timing and was headed back down and passed hikers headed up and ones that turned around because it was harder than they thought!) We were back to the ship between 2 and 3 leaving us a little while to look at the shops in the port area.

Sounds great, thanks! I’m gonna try it and go with a private tour operator. Worst case scenario is we are too slow and have to turn around before we make it to the top. Actually worst case is we miss the ship, but St Kitts is our last port and it’s not too far of a flight back to San Juan. I’ve been reading a lot of trip advisor reviews though and I have yet to read one from anyone saying they didn’t make it back.

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If your used to hiking it really shouldn't be a problem! I was more physically fit 3 years ago, but hubby and I were pushing 50 and made it up in 2 hrs and down in 1 and a half. Passing way younger people than us:)

We are actually headed on a cruise the end of February and am looking for something different to do this time as we have been there a few times.

Good luck!

Did you end up doing this hike on your cruise? I am planning to do it but am mildly worried about the time crunch and getting back to the ship.

 

I’d prefer to do a private tour (through Thenford Grey), because it’s half the cost and not as many people as the cruise ship’s excursion, but would love to hear other people’s feedback on how tight they made it with time.

 

Even with the guarantee of the ship waiting for us, I’d prefer not to do the ship’s excursion because I don’t want to have to wait on 50 people who may or may not be at our hiking skill level. We are from Colorado and hike 14,000 foot mountains a few times each summer, and do 2,000+ foot inclines weekly during the non-winter months, so I’m fairly confident in our ability to make it up faster than most, but maybe not fast enough to get back to the ship as early as I’d like. Any feedback?

 

 

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Colorado Gurl...

We were just in St. Kitts last week and my 22 and 27 year old sons did this hike. They are quite fit, we have family in Colorado and regularly visit. Two years ago they climbed three 14ers in a week. They did not like this hike, said it’s an overpriced disappointing view at the top, literally snapped a few pictures and ate a protein bar, and turned around to hike down.

We went to Reggae Beach, and had a blast! (I can recommend the mango coladas, coconut shrimp and the aloe massage!)

My son said save the hiking for Colorado and go to the beach!

Colorado Gurl...

 

We were just in St. Kitts last week and my 22 and 27 year old sons did this hike. They are quite fit, we have family in Colorado and regularly visit. Two years ago they climbed three 14ers in a week. They did not like this hike, said it’s an overpriced disappointing view at the top, literally snapped a few pictures and ate a protein bar, and turned around to hike down.

 

 

 

We went to Reggae Beach, and had a blast! (I can recommend the mango coladas, coconut shrimp and the aloe massage!)

 

 

 

My son said save the hiking for Colorado and go to the beach!

Thanks for this comparison. It is hard to beat the view from 14,000 feet in the air, and the difficulty of a 14er hike is really no comparison to any other hike. Most reviews I read from people who hike, do not have the same reference point for hiking that we do, so it’s really hard to read between the lines to see what we’d think of it. It’s really helpful to have your boys’ opinion, having done the kind of hiking we’re used to and also having done the volcano. Perhaps I’ll rethink our plans. Mango coladas and coconut shrimp does sound enticing. Thank you!

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I have hiked Mt Liamuiga twice, once in 2008 and once in 2018. I don't hike weekly, but I am in decent shape and exercise vigorously and often. It's not easy! I have an athletic 7 year old daughter- I would probably not take her. I would be afraid she would get too tired too quickly and then not be able to complete. Also, some of the "steps" using the word loosely were high for my adult woman sized body- I imagine they are REALLY high to someone 44" tall!

Your mileage may vary and Royston (whom we did the tour with the second time) did tell us he had taken children but didn't sound overly enthusiastic. If they are skilled hikers and maybe a little taller than my daughter they might be fine. I would probably take her in 2-3 years, but that's just my personal opinion.

Have fun!

Thanks for this comparison. It is hard to beat the view from 14,000 feet in the air, and the difficulty of a 14er hike is really no comparison to any other hike. Most reviews I read from people who hike, do not have the same reference point for hiking that we do, so it’s really hard to read between the lines to see what we’d think of it. It’s really helpful to have your boys’ opinion, having done the kind of hiking we’re used to and also having done the volcano. Perhaps I’ll rethink our plans. Mango coladas and coconut shrimp does sound enticing. Thank you!

 

 

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We did this tour last month. I figured I would come back and give my 2 cents for everyone that is trying to research the hike (and as a fellow Coloradan, I think you will appreciate and relate to my viewpoints).

I almost cancelled this excursion, thinking that it might not be the best way to spend the day and worried that we would be pushing the time limit and that the experience would be too miserable and would require packing a lot of heavy gear that I didn’t feel like lugging around.

We didn’t cancel, and I’m glad we did the hike (and it didn’t require anywhere near the amount of gear I thought we’d need- just hiking shoes, sweat wicking clothes and a light backpack).

We did not find it to be all that difficult. Yes, it was a challenging hike and we were breathing heavy and really sweaty, but it was by no means anywhere close to torture or misery in the least. If it hadn’t been challenging, I personally would have found it boring.

I do however, think that the average person would likely find this trek too difficult, and would not be expecting the cardio fitness necessary to do this hike without secretly hating it.

Some people are calling it a “climb,” and I didn’t think that anything about this hike was akin to climbing, but my experience with hiking is probably a lot more advanced than most people’s, and I can see how some less experienced hikers might describe this as a climb.

There are a lot of “steps” to get to the top. To me, that is a hike, but if you are from a state where hikes are more like flat terrain nature trails, you might call this a climb, and it will be because your expectations of a hike are different from mine.

In Colorado, all of our hikes are steps to the top. If you come across a step that is too high to get over, and you have to use your hands to help you get up, we call that a rock scramble. We don’t ever call that a rock climb, as rock climbing here requires ropes and harnesses and specialty tools (although there are quite a lot of “free climbers” here who will scale the sides of mountains without any of that equipment and it is doable if you have the technical skill for it). So, to me, when people say they had to climb, I am assuming they are having to climb up a rope, or find a foothold on the side of a straight drop-off from the mountainside. Many of our hikes out here do require that and so if someone tells me that a hike I am doing will require technical skill or climbing in some spots, this is what I expect, and that is what I was expecting in parts of Mt Liamuiga, but no, no climbing, not even close.

I think though, when people are saying “rock climb” as it pertains to Mt Liamuiga, they really mean a rock scramble, and a rock scramble is just a normal everyday part of hiking where I’m from, so it didn’t even occur to us that this was an abnormal thing to be doing on a hike, and so we liked it.

It does sound like the weather conditions can alter the terrain and we were lucky because there was not a lot of mud or anything. There were also no clouds at the top, so we enjoyed an amazingly beautiful view and got awesome pictures.

We were also in that front group with the fastest hikers, so we enjoyed the most time at the top. It took the rest of the group easily 20 more minutes than us to get there and so we didn’t feel rushed, nor was it very crowded because it was easy for us each to take turns getting pictures without being in each others way.

Basically, what I’m saying is that some people will feel they had to run to keep up, and that is because they were not the fittest in the group. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, it just changes the way that person viewed their experience. I was in the group that felt we went too slow, because we had to wait for everyone else to catch up.

There were about 10 of us in that front group and I was by no means in the best shape of our group, and I was one of the oldest by at least 20 years. I run slower than almost everyone in that group, but because I am from a higher altitude, it was a good match (some people in our group can run 5 minute miles, and I only run a 7-8 minute mile for example). But I am also used to hiking at altitudes in the 10,000-14,000 foot range.

If you are used to rocky, steep, fast paced conditions when you hike, or you are someone who really works out (meaning you go for runs, not jogs or walks, you weight lift, you ride a bike as exercise and not just to the grocery store or on a sightseeing afternoon, you regularly get your heart rate up to around 180 and like that feeling)....you will not have any kind of problem on this hike. If your exercise routine is anything less than that, you might describe this as too hard. But, you can still definitely make it to the top.

The question you have to ask yourself is, will you enjoy it? If you don’t like feeling like you’re in a race to the top, if you don’t like your heart pumping for an hour or two at a time and aren’t used to doing that in your normal workouts at home, you might not enjoy this hike.

It is really really hard to get a feel for what this hike will be when reading reviews because very few people are specific enough about their experience and their fitness level to be able to compare your own ability to that. When I ask people about hikes here at home and they tell me they are hard, torturous, require some technical skill or climbing etc, I go into it with a certain expectation and that was hard for me when reading reviews because now I realize most people are not used to the kind of fitness our state lives in. Out here, we love a challenge, we share mountain stats in quantitative measures of altitude, distance, percentage of climbing grade, and how long it takes people to do, and we know the range of avg times it takes fit people and not so fit people to do each and every trail we have (there are books and websites dedicated to such facts and information).

I will say that if you are an avid Colorado type hiker, if you are a competitive athlete in a sport that requires running, if you can run at least 3-6 miles at a pace of no slower than 10 min (6mph), if you can get through a 1 hour spin class at the gym doing the hardest settings that the instructor suggests, or you do bike rides of at least 10-20 miles regularly, you will be fine and you will like this hike. Less than this and you will still make it, but you might be more in line with the people who found this hike a little more miserable.

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This is good and very detailed advice! I live in a flat place so hikes here are not so advanced. Agree about spin class assessment- don’t run due to

history of three stress fractures, routinely do 45 m on elliptical at minimum HR 160s and get it into the 190s not infrequently. Also a trained vinyasa yoga teacher. So yes I guess it depends on where you are coming from! But if your exercise routine is limited or nonexistent this will be hard.

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This is good and very detailed advice! I live in a flat place so hikes here are not so advanced. Agree about spin class assessment- don’t run due to

history of three stress fractures, routinely do 45 m on elliptical at minimum HR 160s and get it into the 190s not infrequently. Also a trained vinyasa yoga teacher. So yes I guess it depends on where you are coming from! But if your exercise routine is limited or nonexistent this will be hard.

 

 

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Haha that was me. Im from Florida and used to zero climbing and do lots of fun exercise but nothing intense. I thought I might die and longed for a Pina colada on a beach and cursed my husband. But I made it.

And I would think kids would have a tough time on the rocks parts. The scrambling was challenging for me at 5'4.