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Two Incomplete Hikes

This past weekend was a three day weekend for Matthew since Monday was Veteran's day.  Matthew and I were able to spend a lot of quality time together!  We had all of Saturday, Sunday and Monday to fill up with fun stuff to do (that is, when Matthew didn't have to go to the kennel and feed the dogs).  Every other weekend Matthew has Kennel Duty where he has to go and feed the dogs and clean out their kennels but that only takes up about 30-40 minutes twice a day.

Friday night we were planning out our trip up north to finally get to go on the hike that we tried to go on a couple weekends ago.  We had our bags packed and our gear laid out so that we could eat an early breakfast, go to the kennel to feed the dogs and then head up to the northern part of the island to go on our hike.  This is the same hike that you have to call and make sure is open because it is on part of the northern Naval Base.  While we didn't think there would be any reason why it wouldn't be open (unlike last time when there was a huge storm churning up the waters) we decided it would be best to call ahead anyway.  Low and behold:  it was closed again!  This time is because they were using the gun ranges that surround the hiking trail and hikers are not permitted when the ranges are in use.  So here we were again forced to pick another hike last minute.

We came across one that was in the southern part of the island and that we knew where the trail head started.  This particular hike was called Cetti Falls and as you would expect there were waterfalls at the end of this hike.  But did we get to see those water falls? NO!  We did not!  First of all the trail head was almost completely over grown and it took us 3 times walking right past it before we noticed it.  Second the trail was almost all completely down hill slope with nothing but saw grass to grab onto.  We ended up with some pretty scratched up legs and hands when we finally got out.  Thirdly the trail itself was unmarked and overgrown to the point where we could have easily gotten lost in the jungle and not known where we were going.  We tried to figure out the trail and stuck with it for a while but ended up quitting after a while for fear of getting lost and not being able to see out starting point (we were using a cell phone tower as our reference point and we would not have been able to see it if we went much farther).  Here are some pictures of what that particular hike looked like.


Beautiful view but no where near the falls.


The stuff in the next two pictures are something that grows in Guam that many of the locals use.  It is called BettleNut and they chew on the stuff that comes out of those bunches.  It is supposedly like chewing tobacco and gives the user the feeling of being 'high'.   



This picture is a good look of what most of the trail looked like.  Almost a 45 degree slope the whole time with a lot of over growth and saw grass.  


By the time that we decided to turn around and head back to the car we had gone a good distance down into the jungle.  It was a tough journey getting back up that hill.  I got some pretty good cuts from the saw grass trying to pull myself up some pretty steep slopes.  

When we finally got out and back on the main road Matthew and I were both pretty tired.  But we had not completed a hike!  We really wanted to go on a hike and we knew that there was another trail head just down the road because we had passed it coming up to that hike.  So we decided to give it a try.  

The next hike that we tried was called Stella Bay and it was much easier to navigate!  First of all it had a parking lot (not just the side of the road) and a trail that had been laid with pavement (even though the pavement had long since cracked and deteriorated).  It was also more of a slow slope down to the water than a steel decline.  We started our walk a little frustrated that the first hike didn't work but determined to get at least some actual hiking in for the day.

This hike went well for a while, we saw some beautiful meadows and mountain sides all around us as well as a beautiful ocean view.  The ocean was our final destination and from looking at where we were, it was going to be a LONG hike!  It soon proved to be a little bit too long after over exerting ourselves on our previous hike.  We ended up taking a break at a small stream and then deciding to save the rest of that particular hike for another day when we could enjoy it more.  We knew that once we got to the ocean we would not have enough energy to snorkel and hike all the way back.  Thus we turned back to the car once again not completing the full hike.  

Oh well, we had a good time over all and we saw some more of Guam beauty in the southern portions of the island. Here are some of the pictures that we got from that hike.

Matthew eating a snack by the stream.





The mountain side 



View of the distance to the ocean from the start of the hike.


It was a good time walking and talking with each other but we were exhausted when we finally got back to our car!  We plan on going back to the Stella Bay Hike again to finish it and do some snorkeling but we will not be going back to the Cetti Falls Hike during our time here.  A little advice to anyone that might be here on Guam:  Matthew later learned that his Chief and Chief's wife went on the Cetti Falls Hike and got so lost that they were nearly medically evacuated out of there.  Do not undergo this hike unless you are a skilled navigator, have a machete and are a skilled climber as well!  Do not pay attention to the "Best Tracks on Guam" book when it says this hike is only medium difficulty!  With all the overgrowth and disuse, this hike is definitely a very hard difficulty.


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