Pico Duarte Trek

Izzy here, one of the 3 LODs (Leader of the Day) for this intense excursion, ready to tell you about the crazy adventure we took as LIFT students and staff in hiking Pico Duarte!

Preparations began with student leaders and staff meeting with our local trip guide Cesar. We discussed all the logistical details of the trip and planned the food pack for the 3-day trek. The next steps included student leaders briefing their teams and the whole group packing food and group gear for the trip.

The beginning day of the trek students woke up at 2:00 am to load buses and drive 2.5 hours beyond Jarabacoa, where Pico Duarte is protected in a national park called Armando Bermudez. This is where we met the guides and mules from the park. In order to hike Pico Duarte, you must hire a guide and mule for every 2 people hiking.  So as a group of almost 30, we were accompanied by almost 15 guides and mules. The guides lead the mules, who carried all our group food and some gear, up the mountain. Before we began our assent, we were given a stern talking to by the director of the park about environmental protection and conservation. He was strongly concerned with LIFT leaving trash and graffiti and in our wake. Little did he know we are masters of LNT (Leave no trace) 😊.

Separated into 3 groups, each lead by a LOD and LIFT staff member, we began the 18 km trek (11 miles for the first day) up to our base camp site “La Comparticion.” While the first 4 km were for the majority flat, the next 10 km were a constant, sustained up-hill climb: 6 miles of switchbacks and progressively steeper terrain. For many of the LIFTers this was the hardest terrain they had ever hiked. The elevation gain the first day was over 5,000 ft in 11 miles.  For those who do not know much about hiking… this is significant! Fortunately we were only carrying 20 - 25 pound packs because the mules had the majority of our food and we didn't need tents. Each of the 3 groups arrived safely at base camp and enjoyed a warm meal cooked by the guides over an open fire.

The next morning offered some well needed rest. We slept in until 6 (Yes, as surprising as that is, it is sleeping in for a LIFT excursion). We started the 5 km hike to the summit around 7 a.m. and all the groups had summitted by 10 a.m. At the top of the mountain, we all touched bust of Duarte, a founding father of the DR, officially summitting the highest peak on the eastern seaboard at 10,164 ft. We sang together our classic LIFT song “Let us Adore” and praised God for his faithfulness to us over the past year. My group specifically took time to pray over our past year with the intention of praying against strongholds in our lives that keep us from growing deeper in our relationships with God and glorifying him for the work he has done in us so far. He indeed is making us all new in Christ, we want to praise God for this! In LIFT fashion we celebrated on the summit with Snickers bars, singing, and prayer. What an amazing thing to get to glorify God with our whole beings.

We all hiked back to the base camp to spend one more night fellowshipping, resting, and enjoying Dominican cuisine around a campfire. We finished the trek the next day around lunch time. Our total mileage over the 3 days was 28 miles (46 km) and around 7,500 ft in elevation! An epic adventure having come to an end. We are already looking forward to our next adventure back in the ADKs. It never ceases to amaze us how God uses LIFT excursions to grow us and teach us more about himself, his kingdom, and others.

-Izzy Oliver

See the previous blog post for more photos of the Pico Duarte Trek in addition to these:

Sam's final push to the summit!  (Don't worry - he was safe)