NEW WATERFALL IN
COCORITE
On Nature's Trail
Heather Dawn Herrera
Trinidad Guardian
Section II
April 10, 2000
Page 1
Our
country is fortunate to have areas still pristine in nature as
well as raw and wild locations that offer wilderness-type adventure to those
who dare.
Roaming
these hinterlands in the Northern Range, you marvel at the lush expanse of
hills and valleys untouched by man.
From atop the ridge summits, you hear water crashing its strength
against stalwart stone or breaking through the surface of deep pools.
Though
swirling mists might sometimes seek to alienate you from the rest of the world,
you are aware that this is all part of nature's realm, of her maintaining an
overall balance around her, a balance that commands all other balances throughout
the land.
When
you reach the summit of the range in an area that heads the valleys of
Cocorite, the panoramic view is well worth it.
The foothills of Cumaca to the south, El Chiquero mountain with its
shrouded top to the west south west, the Caribbean Sea way out to the north,
and the steep face of the range's northern side, its ridges and valleys giving
way to a vast greenery of delight.
At
this height, all this can only be viewed for short periods because of the
continuous mist blowing across from east to west.
Often
this mist would remain stationary, blessing you with sprinkles of water that
soak your clothes after a while but only glisten on the well-adapted mountain
vegetation around.
When
the sunlight attempts to penetrate this white blanket, there is a sort of
subdued light that lends a softened touch to the summit; an almost magical
vista.
It
is down one of these steep descending valleys that our new discovery is
located. Over the years, our Outfit
explored most of these challenging waterways tumbling down almost unconquerable
passages.
We
featured two waterfalls with huge pools that impacted greatly on their
surroundings. This new discovery is the
third of such locations that offer much to the adventurous hiker who braves
these wild ways to be a true part of nature.
To digress a little, when you face and conquer such challenges head-on,
you gain a different perspective on everyday life, a holistic view.
Our
Outfit descended a very steep knife-edged ridge, more like the vertical fold in
a gathered skirt, with sharp sides that dropped to deeply indented valleys.
Our
Outfit continued to climb down, sometimes edging walls of stone that truncated
these high level ridges.
On
either side, the early stages of a stream would be heard crashing down with
surprising strength for its youth.
However, such is the nature of this side of the Range, water and more
water in never-ending flow.
You
can always identify a true waterfall in these heights and when our Outfit
reached the source of these sounds, they were as we had suspected, a treacherous
type of terrain that demanded a determined head, "guts" as we term
it.
Climbing
down from tree to tree, ledge to ledge, we reached the base of our destination,
more than 70 feet of an impressive waterfall, tumbling in three stages down the
mountain.
Of course,
we had to climb each stage. After the
first, we met a very deep and wide pool created by the middle fall.
Accessing
the stage above this was a challenge, as the walls were vertical at this point,
even forming an overhang on one side shading the pool with trailing vines.
These
vines we used to hoist ourselves to the top stage where another pool lay.
Sorry
to disappoint you readers, but we were already so cold and wet from our
morning's experiences to reach this point, that no one felt like taking a swim
in any one of these pools.
The
mists were all around the location too, contributing to its coldness.
Below
us, another steep drop, gorge-like in nature continued to lead the stream down
its course. Such was the nature of this
wild but harshly beautiful terrain.