The first day can always be pretty intimidating in a new place, so I like to take it easy and try something that doesn’t pose too much of a geographical challenge. After speaking to some people from the hostel, and checking my research, I decided to hike the Sleeping Giant. There are two options to hike the sleeping giant, “the Sleeping Giant Trail”, and the “Nounou trail”, or “Sleeping giant hike”. Based on advice, I ended up on the Nounou trail. From the hostel, it was only a 10-15min drive to the trailhead.
It is only 2miles each way, but has a pretty good incline for the duration of the hike. At a moderate pace, it took me about 45min to reach the lookout on the top. This will obviously vary depending on your fitness level. There are many lookout areas along the way, displaying a beautiful view of the ocean and the town below.
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Once at the top, it is not recommended that you venture any farther, as the trail you may find from there is unmarked and potentially dangerous. I, of course, kept going to see what else there was to see. Any worries I may have had, were lessened substantially when passing a young man and his small dog coming from the direction I was headed. The narrow trail beyond the lookout, led to the ridgeline of the Sleeping Giant mountain. The view was incredible, there were no obstructions and I was able to observe the ocean facing side of the mountain as well as the valley to the backside of the mountain. While at the top, I spoke with a couple of people that recommended doing the hike at night. They informed me that people often hike up at dusk to see the sun set. I told myself that if I had the time before leaving the island that I would return to see the sunset. Unfortunately I was unable to make this happen.
As I do on all my hikes, I enjoyed a couple of beers at the top and took a few pictures before heading back down.
