The original spontaneous plan was to ride my bicycle to Tumon, hike the coastline behind the Hilton, go see if I could find an overlook up on the cliff over there, and then ride my bike back to the barracks.
When the day was over, this is what had actually happened.
I rode my bike to the cliff overlook first. It was way more awesome than I had hoped it would be. The old overlook sits right on the cliff face and the remains of an old cement railing are still present. This place would have been amazing to see when it was first built. If you hike passed the railing into the brush that you can see in the picture, the entire side of the rock was landscaped. Though mangled by weeds and other intrusive plants, the original landscapers ideas are still very present and the beauty still overwhelming. Even the side of the cliff seems to have been landscaped to a certain degree. As you follow the remaining railing to the right you find yourself on an old cement staircase.
It follows the cliff as you descend down to, what used to be, another overlook much closer to the water. Though still beautiful, this place is no longer somewhere you would take someone to have a relaxing day. Now falling apart and covered in vines and trash, this place is probably only a brief glimpse of what it used to be. Maybe at some point in the future some passer by will not only realize its true potential, but also have the means to revive it. For now it remains one of Guam's numerous hidden treasures, slowly being lost to the memory of time.
After I left the overlook I rode my bike to the Hilton in Tumon. I stashed my bicycle in some weeds, since I don't ever carry a chain/lock, and then began my hike along the coastline. In the book, "A Field Guide to Caves and Karst of Guam" it mentions that there are some caves along this coastline. I was hoping that the tide was low enough to make it to some of these caves.
Luckily for myself, the tide was very low. Along the way I found many small caves, still being created by the beating waves when the tide can reach them. There were two larger caves, but nothing extraordinary that would cause for a post of their own. The coastline that I hiked along was immensely beautiful. Much more so than I had expected. Usually the Guam coastline is filled with trash and debris from years of the military and individuals dumping their trash everywhere. But in this case, probably due to the tide that reaches to the cliffs when it is high, there was almost no trash at all. What I was left with was a completely natural view of Guam's coast and the ocean beyond that. Guam is the first place in the world I have been where hundred foot cliff walls continue directly to the ocean.
Along the coastline I did find what I am almost one hundred percent sure is the fossil of a large clam. I have found two large clam shells and taken pictures of smaller clams and this is exactly what they look like. The "fossil" is attached to the rocks only three to five feet above sea level. It wouldn't have been that long ago in time that this area would have been submerged year round. I believe the chances of this being a clam fossil are highly likely. I wonder how long ago it was that this clam lived?
When I had hiked back to my bicycle I visited Devil's Punchbowl again. Devil's Punchbowl is an extremely large hole in the ground. I am unsure how it was created, but it remains one of Guam's easiest to access and still widely unknown locations. From there I continued to GPO where I had a Subway sub and watched the movie "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World". I hadn't seen any trailers for the movie but heard that it was good so I decided to watch it. It was a very good movie. I would probably go see it again. While I was waiting for the movie to start I decided to go to Borders and pick up a small book that I can scan through while I waited for the movie to start. Forgetting I had to ride my bicycle over ten miles to get back to my barracks, I ended up buying four books. Almost as soon as I had purchased them, the realization of what I had just done occurred to me. Now I had to go buy a backpack so that I could put everything in it and wear that while I rode my bicycle back. It is a nice backpack though and I also bought some new socks at the same time so I'm not to disappointed with having to purchase the backpack anymore. The socks feel amazing and I have been in need of some new pairs lately.
After I left GPO I recovered my bike from yet another weed stash and rode back to the barracks. All in all it was a completely unplanned day that turned out extremely well. I was very happy that I made the original spontaneous idea to get out for a while. Now looking back on it, I can't think of any better way to spend a day and rack up thirty six miles on my list of achievements.
No comments:
Post a Comment