Climbing Chuuk in Chuuk

On my first Saturday in Chuuk I decided to climb to the top of the mountain on Tonoas. Interestingly enough, Chuuk actually means mountain. So I was climbing the chuuk in Chuuk. As I mentioned before, the Chuuk lagoon and specifically the island of Tonoas was a naval base headquarters for the Japanese during WWII. The Japanese cut down all the trees and destroyed all the vegetation in order to build roads and buildings all over the island. We were hoping to reach the top of the mountain and climb a light tower to see a grand view of the entire lagoon. We planned the hike as just a few of us Peace Corps volunteers exploring the island, but it soon turned into quite an expedition. Julie, Becky, Naavid, Paul, Ben and I were going along with the current volunteers Andrea and John. But as our group came together, word spread like wildfire through the town that we were making this trek. By the time we started ascending the mountain, we had a crew of about 20 or 30 locals escorting us up the slopes.

Most of the people were little kids with no shoes that scampered up and down the paths with fascinating dexterity. The local children’s actions reminded me of my shepherd dog dude when we go on hikes; constantly running back and forth from the front of the group to the back to make sure that everybody is ok. The kids didn’t ever seem to drink water, never slowed down and traversed this rugged terrain with nothing more than a pair of shorts. We tended to stay on the path, but many of them just tromped through the jungle and tore through the vines and bushes that impeded their journey. 8-year-old boys were clamoring up palm trees and tossing us coconuts down to drink. It was very impressive and a little emasculating to see these little boys scale the mountain and trees with such ease.

I am not confident enough to bear hug the palm trees and squirm my way up a 50 foot trunk overhanging a cliff, but I did find one of the coolest climbing trees ever. It had huge vines drooping down and was half growing out of a rocky hillside. I leapt up and grabbed a hold of the vines to hoist myself up like Tarzan. I maneuvered around like a monkey for a while on the tree and ascended the highest branches reachable until I noticed some commotion down below. Someone yelled up to me that there were some great caves carved into the rock cliffside near the base of the tree. I slipped my way down the vines and went to check out the crevices in the mountain. Well, these were more than just crevices. The Japanese had built a network of caves and tunnels that went through the mountain. You could enter the cave on one side and after a little wandering in the dark; you would pop out on the other side of the mountain. I could definitely see the battle strategy employed with the use of the caves and admired the Japanese workmanship in construction of these caves. The insides seemed to be encased in crumbling concrete that at one time probably made these damp caves into sleek tunnels for storage and transportation. We played around the caves for a bit and the kids caught some birds with their bare hands in the dark. Once again showing how badass these local islanders are.

After a couple of hours of struggling our way through dense jungle, we finally reached the apex of the island. We came upon an old tower and climbed a rickety ladder to the top. From this vantage point we had a wondrous view of the lagoon and admired the pure beauty of our location. We truly are in paradise and times like this made us remember how lucky we are.

On our way down, we got a little reminder of why rain forests are called “rain” forests. It rains a lot. We were about half way down the mountain when the darks cloud came over our heads and let buckets of water pour from the sky. We were drenched to the bone within a few minutes but reveled in the clean and refreshing downpour. The only problematic issue was the effect when water mixes with dirt. It creates mud. Mud is slippery. Mud is especially slippery when you are walking downhill with sandals on. Needless to say, the rest of the trip down was a slippery sliding mess. We used vines and plants as handles to brace our steps but nonetheless spent much of the time on our butts in the mud. We decided to make the best of this and when we came to a clearing we cut some big banana leaves and fashioned them as sleds. We rather unsuccessfully slid down through the mud on our makeshift slides and dirtied ourselves up even more. When we finally reached the bottom of the mountain it was natural to go straight to the ocean. All thirty of us dove in the water with our clothes on to wash away to grime and mud that has splattered us during our descent. I turned on my back, floated in the buoyant salt water as the rain pit-patted on my face and once again reassured myself how lucky I was to be in such an amazing place.