Boiling Lake: Hike It, or Ride It?

Until this year there was one way to see the Boiling Lake: a six-hour round trip through the Valley of Desolation, steep, hot, and not for everyone.

With the cable car opening, there are now two.

Hike it if you want the Valley of Desolation itself. That stretch is the real reason to walk. Steam vents, sulphur, ground stained orange and grey, a landscape that looks like nowhere else on the island. The lake at the end is remarkable, but the walk in is what people remember. Go with a licensed guide, start early, carry more water than you think you need, and write off the rest of the day.

Ride it if time, knees or heat are the constraint. Twenty minutes each way, and a view over the gorge that no hiker has ever had. It also puts the lake within reach of people who were never going to make the trek at all: older visitors, families with small children, anyone with a bad ankle.

There is a third option, and it may be the best of the three. Ride up, hike down. You get the view from above and the Valley on foot, without the climb.

Either way, both start in the Roseau Valley, a short drive from us. Stay in Goodwill and you are close to the trailhead and the base station, which matters when the good hiking hours are the early ones.