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A few weeks ago, I visited the Cinchona Botanical Garden on a hike with Trekkers Adventures JA which began at Newcastle, a JDF soldier camp and training ground in the beautiful Jamaican Blue Mountains. Cinchona had been on my bucket list for years and I had a blast. My only regret was not having had enough time to visit this beautiful nameless waterfall in St. Peters which I had heard and spotted along the way. As such, I vowed to return on my own to visit this hidden gem before I forgot the directions– or the trail grew too overgrown as it is scarcely used. So said, so done! The tiny community of St. Peters in east rural St. Andrew is home to Blue Mountain coffee farms and one of the most breathtaking waterfalls I have ever witnessed. Here’s how this adventure went.
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Getting to St. Peters
We parked at Newcastle, a Jamaican military mountain station, and began our trek. Our trek led us past a signboard which marks the start to the Catherine’s Peak trail, and past Clifton Mount, a popular Blue Mountain coffee farm with a charming great house and garden. This time, a wedding setup was underway at Clifton Mount so I finally can check crashing a wedding off my bucket list (I’m kidding!). The wedding setup crew granted my friend, partner and I permission to explore the grounds, so I got to take more pictures and appreciate the splendour of the fish pond, palms, hydrangeas and other flowering plants which were lost on me in the previous visit.
After Clifton Mount, the rugged road only suited for 4×4 vehicles narrows to a footpath on which we travelled in Indian file for safety. At this point, the lyrics of reggae singer Protoje’s 2015 hit “Who Knows” echoed through my mind where he crooned: “Man deh in a city hungry and nuh eat, and food deh down a country just a drop off a di trees dem.” Because, the trail to St. Peters was literally littered with guavas and avocados rotting on the ground having fallen from fruitful trees in this east rural St. Andrew community with hardly one hundred residents to eat them. Given how much we pay for fruits in the city, it was a joy to pick and eat fresh guavas straight from the tree in St. Peters, much to the amusement of an elderly resident who watched our childlike glee from his verandah.
Delicious guavas on the trailWe walked to the St. Peters square, then continued downhill in the direction of the river. However, we soon realized that we had to walk through people’s yards to access the river and waterfall. We saw a young boy no older than 10 years playing in his yard and asked for his help. He took us to a teenaged male who led us past two or three houses to the waterfall. We tipped him for his kindness.
Alternatively, one can access St. Peters Square with a 30 minute drive from Holywell or via Mavis Bank and Content Gap, but I don’t imagine the roads are very good. A 4×4 vehicle is recommended. From the St. Peters Square, it is a 5 minute downhill walk to the waterfall. From Newcastle, the trail lasted about 2 hours (7.5km) at average walking speed each leg of the way.
St. Peters Waterfall
The interesting thing about rivers is that they swell with rainfall, so a single river can look different throughout the year. Many of Jamaica’s rivers are seasonal, including this one, so I was fortunate to visit it during the rainy season. In fact, it was noticeably larger and mightier than my glimpse of it just two weeks prior. The ice cold spray left me drenched in seconds so changing into swimwear didn’t make sense- I was soaked before reaching the river! Trying to stand below the waterfall for a watery massage like one can get at other waterfalls in Jamaica felt like getting whipped across one’s back. Instead, I chose to stand next to it and admire its grandeur and that of our Creator. Surely, something this beautiful did not happen by accident and the river was free from all debris and signs of human activity. Amazing!
Wrap Up
Cold, wet, hungry, tired and fulfilled, we retraced our steps to Newcastle. On the way, we got caught in a light drizzle and fog, and ran into wedding guests being shuttled to the most remote (albeit stunning!) of destinations. We planned to dig into hearty lunches at the mountainside restaurants of either EITS Café or the Crystal Edge Restaurant, but EITS was closed early for a private event and the latter was out of rice and peas, a Jamaican staple! We consoled ourselves with hot chocolate from Café Blue and ended the day with lunch closer to home instead. St. Peters was one of the most exciting adventures I’ve had all year. Have you ever heard of this east rural St. Andrew community before? Would you visit? Sound off in the comments section below.
If you liked this post, you would also enjoy:
- Cascade Falls, Portland
- Fish Dunn Falls, Portland
- Cinchona Botanical Gardens
- Clydesdale National Forest Park
- My Guide to the Jamaican Blue Mountains
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