Banaderu Trail

A change of plan brings us to the Banaderu trail for our Sunday hike, partly to show a couple of visitors the rugged jungle, what we call boonies, on Saipan, and the panoramic view, and partly to get back to a more challenging hike. We gather at the parking area across from the Last Command Post at 6 a.m., an all ladies team of enthusiastic hikers looking forward to an exciting adventure: Giggles, Peppy, Chops, Dora, Tojo-a-gogo, Christine (from France), Yoko (from Guam), and Capt. Charlie. Chops is appointed the trail blazer, being more familiar with the lay of the land. The sky is still somewhat dark as we approach the Korean Monument from where the trail begins. Having spotted the first pink ribbon, Yoko surges ahead to lead the way up.

The "Lost Tribe" a.k.a. "Sunday Hikers" lives up to its name and promptly loses its way in the boonies. We climb up and up over boulders, loose rocks, tree stumps and foot-grabbing vines, following pink ribbons that have been set, possibly by the hashers or some other groups. We soon realize that the direction we are going is not the right way. Chops is climbing up a cliff in search of ribbons that will lead us to the trail.

Dora recalls a cave we have passed by during our last hike on Banaderu. We run into this cave, but it is not the same cave. Yoko decides to climb into it to see if there is any interesting objects d'art or a possible crime scene. She finds none.

As we scatter in different directions in search of the trail, some climb further up the cliffs, and some continue down the slopes, Dora and Christine savor a little rest to survey the surrounding. The boonies holds a large number of birds-nest ferns.

Yoko is the first one retreating back downhill and runs right onto the proper trail. We have apparently missed the tree with multiple ribbons and a big orange arrow marking the beginning of the concrete steps. We call out to the rest of the tribe to join us.

Chops and Dora scramble down on all fours.

Tojo-a-gogo is besides herself with glee.

Giggles and Peppy breathe and smile with a sigh of relief.

Back on the trail, Peppy, whose original hiker name is Ms. DeVine, is almost disappointed that the vines of her namesake is almost gone. Two years ago, when we first hiked on this trail, the vines, Cadena de Amor (Chain of Love) had overtaken and covered other trees, threatening to choke them. Peppy came to the rescue by pulling down the, pretty but offensive, vines, hence CC gave her the name Ms. DeVine.

These cute little red berries are used for the eyes of the Bojubo dolls, a very popular local handicraft, for the tourists. The berries, however, are toxic.

Christine delights in photographing all the different kinds of plants and living things on Saipan. Here she looks like a beautiful and happy boonies-fairy.

We near the top of Suicide Cliff. Here is a clump of cactus that is well "graffiti" carved, a common practice on these cacti. This plant is blooming.

On top of Suicide Cliff, Giggles is exhausted and not giggling. She takes a little rest before our snack feast.

After satiating with snacks, we gather for this group photo, back row L to R: Yoko, Peppy DeVine, Christine. Front: Capt. Charlie, Giggles, Tojo-a-gogo, Dora, Chops.

Although Dora would have loved to hike back down the trail, we decide to take the road. It's hard to beat this view of the lagoon, as Yoko, Dora, Chops, and Giggles take over the road.

Finally back on Highway 30, we bump into this mail-box like skull of a cow. 

After the long trek down from Suicide Cliff, the hikers arrive back at Last Command Post, and almost immediately get swallowed up by a group of Chinese tourists.

Three hours and fifty minutes, of which almost an hour spent getting lost :-), we give this a great hike of five-sneaker rating. Next time, we will try not to get lost...

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