Pico Duarte Day 1....

Brian, Jose, Nate, Joel, and I took off for Pico Duarte this morning. Pico Duarte is named after Juan Pablo Duarte, one of the founding fathers of the DR. It is also the highest point in the Carribean, standing at 10,127 feet. After packing our bags and driving out to La Cienega, we hit the trails for our first part of the hike. Day 1 was definitely just a warm up day. We hiked 4 km into Los Tablones where we stayed in a shelter for the night. The sign told us that this would be a 2 hour climb, but it took us a mere hour and 10 minutes. We had mac and cheese for dinner, played cards, and chilled around the fire. We need much rest tonight because Day 2 lies ahead and it is going to be our most diffucult day....

Jose, Me, Brian, Joel, and Nate at the start of the trail...