Hiking?

Hi. Long time lurker here, but with our upcoming inaugural trip to the BVIs in May, I figured it was time to come out of the woodwork.

With that said, I have some questions for the forum regarding hiking in the area. We have some avid strong hikers in the group and we would like to know if there are worthwhile hikes. We will be chartering a mono and our stops include Cooper, North Sound, The Dogs, Marina Cay, CGB, JVD, and Norman. Would be nice to go ashore to check out different scenery. I've done some minor research and came up with Virgin Gorda Peak, Biras Creek Trail, and Majohnny Hill as potential hikes. Would appreciate thoughts or recommendations from anyone! TIA

There's a trail behind Pirates Bight that will take you up to the top of Norman Island.

Jost is great for hiking. Just pick a direction.

I really don't know of a single island you can't walk on. Once you put the shoes on there are so many options. I just rarely bother.

There are many "hiking" maps available. Jost has MANY options, VG has many on the east end. Anegada from the anchorage to the beaches, around the east point...endless options....none/rarely over 10 miles.

Thanks for responses, all. Will also look into Norman. Either way, looks like we can't go wrong with any of the hikes!

definitely a second vote for Norman, not just for the athletic aspect of it but also the historical aspect, very cool!

One of my favorite hikes ever -- we have done lots of hiking in Idaho -- is over the back of JVD. Go out behind Soggy Dollar and you'll see a steep road which goes up toward the back of the island. Hike up that hill and it takes you to a dirt road and then a trail. You can hike all the way to the other side of the island. We usually hike to Foxy's Taboo and the Bubbly Pool. It takes a few hours and we always leave by around 8:00 a.m. It is beautiful. You'll see tall grasses and goats and the sea and a gorgeous view of Great Harbour. It is difficult to put into words. I am sure others will chime in. And, there are other posts about it if you do a search. You maybe can find it on google maps or something. Well worth the effort to do it. We stay on St. John now, and that hike is something I miss about being on JVD. Bring lots of water and wear sturdy shoes.

Just a little caution on the Norman Island Hike. Do some research and know where you are going. These three guys showed up on the beach at Benures Bay one afternoon when we were anchored there. They walked the beach went back up a trail came back an hour or so later, walked the beach some more went on a trail then came back down. On their third trip to the beach they started yelling for help. We had been watching them all afternoon and had wondered where they had come from so when the calls for help came the guys decided they should go see what they could do. The men explained they had hiked from the Bight and couldn't find their way back. Andy and Curtis decided they could dinghy them back so off they all went. Once back at the Bight, they got an earful from their wives and their Charter Captain as they had only planned on a twenty minute hike and ended up gone all day. It made for a good story on our end, but I don't think those guys had a great night aboard their boat.

Curtis and Andy returning from the successful rescue mission.

I second the hike across the ridge of JVD - I've done it a few times and it is always worth the time invested. (We call it the North Road.) Check out http://www.everytrail.com/search.php?q=jost+van+dyke for some hike reports.

Can anyone expand on the Norman hike option? eg. Approximately how long is it RT and is it singletrack or a road to the top? Would like to avoid a repeat of Prospector's post, but we're also pretty savvy with navigation.

There is also a trail I found on JVD - not sure if it's the same one - I usually walk from Foxy's to Soggy Dollar and right past the little grocery before the 1st big hill is a little sign on a pole that says hiking trail.. I followed it for a bit, but didn't want to continue on since I was alone..
We're heading back May 22nd - June 2nd, and I'd love more info on both Norman and JVD

Norman is pretty much a single track. I can't quite figure out how someone could get lost on that. We hiked up to the helicopter pad, and a little past that, then retraced our steps back. It looked from where we stopped almost like the trail continued on all the way 'round the island.

I think including stops to admire the view and take some photos, we may have taken 40 minutes round trip. You can pretty much make it what you want.

Now that I think of it, you can pretty much make out the trails on the satellite image. Hopefully this link works: google map

It is quite the view looking down from the cliffs over the bay on the south side of the island.

I have not hiked Norman Island, but I did grab a screen shot of a nice topo-map for you, showing elevations and the actual trails.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/48079329@N08/17039549608/

There's a very cool rock formation running right through the center of Salt Island.
I've long wanted to hike it for a spell, just to see what could be seen.

When you get to the top of the hill you can go either way, left or right. Last feb we went left like the guys did. We had no issue finding out way back.

Maybe we were just lucky.

you can climb the road at peter from deadmans bay to white bay, on cooper you can find the trail behind the bar/new hotel and go up an over, on norman you go up to the heli pad then left or right, timing was about as noted above, allow 1 hour because you'll stop a lot to enjoy the views, you can wander around scrub island, you can do an easy climb to the top of marina cay, there's lots of hiking on VG and JVD including the walk between white bay and great harbour on Jost.

Thanks for the informative beta, all. I'm sold on the JVD and Norman hikes. Will also be adding Alvin's Heights of Biras Creek Trail to the list.

There's a trail up to an observation tower on Gorda Peak. On a clear day there is a great view from there.

Also, I recall a shorter hike starting from the beach at Biras Creek to the top of the hill - nice view of the North Sound from there.

BEYC used to have a small network of trails - I seem to recall they had a map of them available.

I recall a nice "hike" (more of a walk) from Great Harbor to White Bay on Jost.