Fadian Cove!

I did not sleep well the night before this hike. I got caught up reading my book, and then, with an annoying bang, the power blew out. After a phone call to the condo’s security, I determined that it was my whole building, not just me, and set about unplugging things, and trying to sleep in an eerily quiet bedroom. At least it didn’t get too hot. Also, I totally used my battery powered desk lamp as a night light. Don’t judge.

Anyways, the next morning, I dragged my butt out of bed, and stumbled my way, after a homemade chocolate donut (with chocolate icing, because obviously), an orange and extra strong pumpkin spice coffee, to the day’s hike. I would have thought about skipping, but I really wanted to do this hike. The hike was to Fadian Cove, which has been closed off the entire time I have been on Guam, or at least, for most of the time, due to the Guam Power Authority constructing a new building, fence line, and power station right by the trail head.

The hike started off oddly. We couldn’t get under or through the GPA fence, and our GPA employee contact was not there waiting for us (it turned out that she was at the bottom of the trail, at the cove, which made no sense if her role was to ensure we were let onto GPA property to get to the trail head!). So, we walked all the way around  out of the GPA parking lot, to the end of the fence near the road. We then walked along the opposite side of the fence, which was on public property, until we got to the trail head.  It added about another 10 minutes to our hike. Of course, by the time we did all that, we discovered a huge hole in the fence that you could slide under to get to the trail head. Which was about 5 feet from where our cars were parked. Ugh. Oh well.

The hike was confusing. I was right up front, and, as I was with an experienced leader, assumed that said leader knew where we were supposed to go.

Seriously, you guys. You’d think I’d know better after being here for almost two years. Ed, the other leader, was at the back, and apparently tried to yell at we were going “the wrong way,” but we did not hear him. The way we went was marked, and Mark, the leader I was with, thought it was the right way. It wasn’t a bad way–it was a clear trail, with pink flags in the trees. Of course, it was incredibly steep, but that’s par for the course with this hike, as you have to go down from the top of the cliffs to the cove. The trail was loose, dry dirty, covered in big limestone rocks, and smaller rocks that fell as we scootched our way down gingerly on our butts, using the trees that bordered the trail to slow and steady our steep descent. The nice thing was, once we were done with that, we were basically at the cove–it was just a short walk to the rocky beach after that.

The cove was very pretty, and it looked like it would be incredible snorkeling. Unfortunately, the water was very rough, so I did not snorkel. I tried, but was getting batted around a lot, so gave up after spying a small school of fish.  There wasn’t enough under the water where I felt safe to make it worth the bobbing about. I spent some time exploring the area, and then perched up on a big rock, surveying the cove and drinking water.

Hey, it was extremely hot out today! There isn’t much shade at Fadian Cove either.

After some exploring (and helping a dog that got stuck on a tall, sharp limestone rock while her owners were swimming), we started the hike back. I stuck with Mark, even though we went “the wrong” way on our way there thanks to him. I figured, that way wasn’t bad, so how bad could “the right way”be?

Actually, it was much easier than “the wrong way.” It was significantly steeper, but the rocks and dirt were not loose, and there were more solid trees and roots to grab. Sure, I did a lot of pulling myself up with my arms, instead of stepping up with my leg muscles, but that’s not a problem. The steep part of the hike was significantly shorter than “the wrong way”‘s steep part as well, so that was nice. We popped out into the open field where we’d first gone wrong, did a teensy bit more climbing, and then arrived at the GPA fence line. At the fence line, we walked until we found the hole (which, again, was literally right where we’d parked our cars, so how we missed that the first go around, I don’t know…), and lined up to slide underneath it. Everyone fit easily.

After some lemonade, I took the short drive home, showered, and stuffed my face. I had some thoughts about going on the “moonie stomp,” an easy rated hike along mostly paved roads that evening. Except I fell asleep and woke up at 5:30pm, which was when we were supposed to meet at Chamorro Village to go hiking. The sleep was way better than any hike!

Here are my pictures of Fadian Cove! I’m very glad I finally go to go on this hike.

At the top, going to go all the way down to the water (and back up, eventually)

We made it!

Another view

More of the cove