Hiking on the DC-3 plane wreck at La Soufrière

We’ve been living on the island of Basse-Terre in Guadeloupe for almost two years now. For some time now, I’d been hearing about the wreck of an airplane crash that lay behind the Soufrière volcano. I knew it was often complicated and that conditions could be very difficult. Just back from my trip to Barbados, I finally had the opportunity to hike to the wreckage with an old friend from the island of Mayotte and two other people who live here. Indeed, I recently published a full article on everything you need to know about hiking La Soufrière, including our experience at the summit, with or without a guide.

Before I tell you my account of this hike, which isn’t really an official mountain hike, I’ll give everyone a big warning.

Although I have done this hiking trail, you should be aware that the access is actually closed, like many hikes in Guadeloupe. Although the aim of this article is to tell you about my experience and show you photos of the trek, I don’t want to encourage people to do this hiking trail. You are off the beaten track and if you decide to venture into this terrain you do so with full knowledge of the facts and at your own risk. We cannot be held responsible for any incidents that may occur during this trek!

For an easier hike in the centre of the island, take a look at Mamelle de Pigeon.

I wanted to write these few lines beforehand to warn any readers who may come across this article. Although I was very interested in this hiking path, I was aware that it was off the beaten track and that I had been warned that it could be very difficult, to put it mildly. I can tell you right now, it’s probably the most difficult hiking trail I’ve done since I’ve been here, haha.

So, without further ado, here’s a little report on this hike, which turned out to be very difficult and is still in my legs two days later! If you’re looking for an easier, shorter hike, try the Saut de la Lézarde walk, which takes you up to a beautiful and breathtaking waterfall!

Knowing that I was going with three people coming from Le Gosier, we met at the Bains Jaunes car park at 9am. That’s a bit late for me, but the others have an hour and a half to drive, so I can understand them. If I had to give one piece of advice, I’d say start the trek at around 7am. This will give you a bit of a head start and you’ll be able to hike more peacefully without the risk of coming back in the middle of the night.

I have to say that I was a little reluctant to do this hiking path, knowing that I’d just returned from Barbados the day before. And as is often the case when you come back from a trip, you’re even more tired than when you left, haha. But the urge was too strong and the opportunity presented itself. So I got my things ready for tomorrow, charged the two batteries in my Sony A7 III, packed the camera gear I thought I needed to take and my bag. With a sandwich from the bakery in Rivière Sens, I set off towards the Bains Jaunes. The weather wasn’t great. There were clouds over La Soufrière. It was going to be quite difficult and the photos weren’t going to be very good. However, like every time I go hiking in Guadeloupe, I want to take as many photos as possible to show off the place (plane crash). This time I’m going for the adventure and the experience of discovering the wreck.

I met Alwin and his two friends at the car park at 9am as planned. We get kitted out and off we go. (dare I say it!) towards this famous aircraft. I’ll give you all the interesting information you need to know if you want to do the walk in the practical section at the end of the article. Basically, if I had to sum it up, it’s as if you were planning to climb La Soufrière and took off the hardest part of the summit, but added an even harder, longer and muddier part, haha. Are you motivated?

So we start this famous hike from the Bains Jaunes, towards the famous Pas du Roy. This is quite simply the classic route to start hiking the Soufrière. After a 10-minute walk, you will come to a fork in the path which, if you take it to the right, will lead you to the Galion waterfall. We set off determinedly towards the summit of La Soufrière and the famous Savane des Mulets, which we reached after about 20 minutes. The weather wasn’t great and it was very overcast. I won’t go into detail about this first section, which I wrote about in an article on La Soufrière. I don’t know if it’s because I’m tired from the Barbados trip or not, but I think we’re climbing almost a bit too fast for me, haha. It has to be said that this first section can break your legs, haha.

Arriving in the Savane des Mulets confirmed my impression: the weather was really overcast and we couldn’t even see the summit of La Soufrière. We decided to head east towards the famous Col de l’Echelle. The pass was almost shrouded in mist on our way up. We reached the pass about 20 minutes later, still at a determined pace. It has to be said that we set off relatively late and with the current weather, there’s no point in taking too long. Today’s goal is to get to that airplane! The Col de l’Echelle is soaking wet and I’ve never seen so much water and puddles on my various passes. It’s not an encouraging sign for the rest of the walk, especially around the airfield, which is notoriously muddy. But we carry on. The hiking path around Soufrière is very overcast and we’re still half in the fog.

I finally reached the fork in the road at the famous Carmichael site. A classic yellow sign marks the fork in the road. If you take the road to the left, you’ll be right on top of La Soufrière. So we take the famous path to Carmichael. So far, there is no particular difficulty. It’s just the classic hike to La Soufrière via the Col de l’échelle.

Although we’re still on the official trail (GR G1), things start to get complicated from here. The weather is still overcast and very threatening, but fortunately the rain doesn’t show its face. From this junction, the path climbs steadily, reaching an altitude of 1,400 metres after about 1.5 kilometres. The trail is still relatively easy to walk on, but we continue to climb up and down the various hills in the area, with the occasional long, tiring stride. I have to admit that I personally find the up and down quite tiring. The atmosphere is always very strange, and the visibility in the distance is close to zero. Nevertheless, everyone is enjoying themselves and making the most of this magical moment away from the crowds.

Despite the leg-breaking sections, there are some really original and enjoyable stretches. Indeed, on this route you have the opportunity to cross several undergrowth areas where the atmosphere is extraordinary. The whole natural area is covered in a thick layer of moss. It may not look good enough in photographs, but I can guarantee you that the passages are really excellent! The whole route is easy to hike, even if my legs are starting to hurt.

As I have already said, the path remains quite passable up to the famous junction on the right-hand side that you can see on the topographical map. From here we have to leave the famous GR G1 and take a path that is forbidden and marked with an orange cross. I’m going to repeat myself, but from this point on you have to take responsibility because you’re no longer on an official path, just like when you go off-piste in a ski resort. Up to here, if you’re careful, you should be able to avoid getting your feet wet. After that, it’s a different story. A few metres after leaving the official track, we realized why it’s closed… This is where the real trouble begins, although the final descent to the plane will be even worse!

From this junction there is only a 350 metre descent. Yes, it’s not much, but it’s clear that the path we’re on no longer resembles a hiking trail. There are certainly a lot of people passing by and we even meet two people coming up from the wreck. They give us some very good advice about the last fork in the path down to the wreck. More on that later. The supposed path has been completely destroyed by the rain, which has dug and puddled all over the place. The whole thing is very slippery and very dangerous. You have to be careful and from here on it’s very difficult not to get your feet wet as you slip all over the place.

The fun thing about this part of the path to the wreck is that you’ll have to cross a number of sections in a sort of mini canyon created by the flow of water. Once again, you have to keep your head down and walk under the vegetation, which is almost as high as you are. The ground is very slippery and full of water.

Even though it’s really hard to walk here, everyone is having a great time, haha. We continue on the hiking path that we can see on the topographical map and even on the Maps.me application that I invite you to download. It allows you to locate yourself on offline maps using your mobile’s GPS (to be downloaded beforehand). But we have not yet reached the highest point. The two hikers we met confirmed that you should continue on this path and go down the slope at the famous “red cap” at the crossroads. When we passed it, it was clearly visible and I hope it will also be for those who want to know where the descent to the plane wreckage is.

The terrain gets rougher and less passable and I have to put my camera away or risk breaking it, haha. We start a seemingly endless descent, trees and roots everywhere, rocks and mud. There’s clearly no path at all here, even though you can see that this little stretch of path will eventually be used. The descent really requires attention to avoid slipping, and it clearly looks like an obstacle course to make your way between the various branches. At the bottom, we come to what the two hikers we had met had described as a muddy area. We soon realised that these were large swampy areas where water had accumulated. The whole thing is as chaotic as you could wish for and I don’t try too hard to avoid getting my feet wet as I’m already soaked and full of mud. If you’re just a little bit careful and walk to the side, you might just manage to get your shoes a little bit dirty. On several occasions we slipped into this really dirty outfit and several times I sank up to my knees in mud. Pain, pain, haha.

We’re making so little progress, this passage seems endless. Once out of the mud, we finally saw the first parts of the plane below us, in particular a wing. We climbed down, freeing ourselves from the roots as best we could, as we always do, to get to the famous wreckage of the plane. It’s in the middle of the forest and I think it’s in pretty good shape for a wreck that’s more than 50 years old (9 September 1971). We’re all happy to have finally arrived here, but I have to admit it still feels strange. We’re on the site of a crash where both pilots died in an accident, so it’s not exactly a happy story. We decided to have a picnic. For your information, it took us 2h30 from the Bains Jaunes to get here, at a fairly steady pace, I’d say, with a few breaks.

I take a little time to photograph the plane from different angles and take some detailed shots, which I’ll share with you below. It’s a real shame that the plane has been tagged by so many people, both on the inside and on the outside. It’s very unpleasant and if you go there, try to respect the place and don’t damage anything. It seems obvious, but of course you should take everything you bring with you…

The fuselage is fairly intact, but there are pieces of it all over the place, especially the propeller at the front of the aircraft. The vegetation is gradually regaining its rights, pushing back and exposing parts of the aircraft.

At the end of our snack, a new group of four people arrived and we decided to leave. We set off again along the same path. It’s just as difficult, although it feels like we’re climbing faster. There’s still no rain, which is good news for us. With the condition of the trail and the humidity, there’s a good chance that there will be a lot of rain in this region.

We finally made it back to the official junction of the GR G1. We decided to go round via the Chemin des Dames, as I’m the only one who knows this route. I have to admit that climbing from the Carmichael junction to the foot of La Soufrière (at the big rift) really makes me feel tired. The last sections and bends are a nightmare and I’m on the verge of cramps. We then took a more leisurely approach to the Chemin des Dames, which had been completely rebuilt after storm Fiona had destroyed several sections of the path. The people I’m with don’t know this path, which I think is longer to reach the old Savane des Mulets car park.

On the lower part of the Chemin des Dames, we are lucky enough to have a clearing and a magnificent and breathtaking view of the Nez cassé summit (peak), another hike we plan to do one day (there must be some breathtaking panoramic views). In the distance are the towns of Saint Claude and Basse Terre.

We finished our mountainous hike by descending the Pas du Roy, the path we took on the way out. The descent hurt my legs even more and I could feel them getting heavier and heavier. We finally arrived at 4pm. We were delighted to be back before nightfall, which was just around the corner.

In the end, the GPS gave us a walk of almost 12km for a total of 7 hours, including a break of about an hour at lunchtime and a very leisurely return. In terms of actual walking, I think we walked a total of 5 hours, which is an enormous amount given the conditions.

We went back to the car to change and get out of our muddy clothes. We took great pleasure in soaking in the hot yellow baths for a quarter of an hour. What fun!

In the end, what did I take away from this hiking trail? Although I haven’t done all the possible hikes in Guadeloupe, this was by far the most difficult and tiring I’ve ever done. As I said, it’s not an official hike in the sense that the trail is actually closed. So I’m not going to encourage you to do it voluntarily, haha.

Personally, though, I’m very glad I went, and I’m thinking of taking Mélanie next time, although I did warn her of the trouble she’d get into. So it’s up to you to see if this trek is for you, but it’s clear that you have to go with the idea that you’re going to suffer, be wet, full of mud and probably walk all day. It’s a big physical and mental effort and clearly not for everyone.

I simply didn’t know about this story, so I did some research on the internet to find out a bit more. Here’s a summary of what I found:

• On 9 September 1971, the Douglas R4D-6 (DC3) of CARIB WEST AIRWAYS crashed into the slopes of La Soufrière. The wreckage was found four days later, on 13 September 1971, with the two pilots dead. They had been crushed by their load of 800kg of boat parts.
• The flight was then between Port of Spain, Trinidad and Dominica. The flight was diverted to Raizet Airport in Pointe-à-Pitre due to a late arrival caused by bad weather conditions on departure, but unfortunately never reached its final destination.

I won’t rewrite everything you need to know about getting to the Bains Jaunes. I invite you to read the article I wrote about La Soufrière. But here are a few tips:

As I said, we left at 9am and returned at 4pm. We took an hour for lunch and the return journey was quite leisurely, but our walking pace was quite high. On the way back we passed some people heading for the wreck. I don’t think they took into account that it would be dark soon. So, if you can, I’d advise you to set off early for this walk and not be bothered by nightfall.

The other advice I could give – and it’s advice you’ll find in every article or video about this hike to the plane (crash) wreckage – is to check the weather forecast for the next few days. There’s no point doing this hiking trail if it’s raining in Soufrière, or if it’s rained in the natural area in the last few days. We’ll all be soaked and the terrain will be impassable.

In terms of equipment, I recommend that you bring the following items in bulk

• An ideally waterproof backpacking for the whole day: ideal for carrying food and drink. Personally, I took 2.5 litres of water for the whole day and that was enough for me. But it all depends on you.
• A K-Way or Mackintosh: I think this is essential, especially if the weather gets worse.
• Energy bars: they give you a boost when you’re feeling sluggish.
• A waterproof bag: if you’re bringing photographic or other equipment, I really recommend taking a waterproof bag to protect it in case of heavy rain.
• Mobile phone: you won’t get much reception on the trail and, as I mentioned above, it will help you find your way around, especially with Maps.me.
• Walking GPS: I use the Garmin ETREX 35 GPS, which I take on all my walks. This will allow you to import the GPS track I’m providing, in case you want to venture out on this hike. Here are the GPS coordinates of the aircraft: 643187.99 / 1775953.91 (or -> Lat 16.05926 , Long -61.66138). If you’d like to take a closer look, Google Earth or IGN Géoportail will show you the wreckage of the plane in the satellite photo.

Here’s the IGN topographic map (1:25,000) of the area, and in blue, my GPS track showing the route, with an outbound journey via the Col de l’échelle and a return journey via the Chemin des Dames. You can download the GPS track HERE

If you’re looking for other hikes in the area, here are a few ideas:

• The hike to the top of Nez Cassé: I mentioned it in the article, but I haven’t done it yet.
• The top of the Col de l’échelle, east of La Soufrière.
• Explore the Parabole Falls above the Blue Basin
• The top of the cistern a little further south.

That’s it for this article on the plane wreck. It’s still a real experience, if only because of the difficulty of the hike. I repeat, it’s clearly not for everyone, but if you’re up for the challenge, you’ll be rewarded!

See you soon for another hike in Guadeloupe!

Written by Sylvain PONS

Since 2021, I've been living in the Guadeloupe archipelago with Mélanie and our two children. We are exploring these beautiful islands and discovering the treasures that we are happy to share with you!

Despite our care, a mistake may have slipped into this article. If you find any, please don't hesitate to let us know so we can correct it as soon as possible and keep our information up-to-date!