St. John, US Virgin Island — Thesis Stop 1, Part 2, Ram Head Trail
So we left off at the end of the Reef Bay trail, we hiked back up, we ran out of water and we both started seeing hallucinations, but we didn’t die so it all worked out in the end. Before we get to the Ram Head trail, a quick note on what the rest of the trip looked like. I was staying with a family who spends winters in St. John from Buffalo, they started a local plant sale on the island every March that has become one of the locals favorite things, Sally was there to help with the plants. She also got a job at Morgan’s Mango which was a delicious restaurant that we went to one night and had a boujee dinner. It was delicious, I would eat there every day of my life if I could.
Okay, so back to the Ram Head trail. The picture to the right is Sally’s favorite picture of the trip. It shows the giant cactuses that were growing a the entrance to the beach, the father/daughter duo walking back to their car is a great size reference too for just how magnificent this plant was.
To get to the Ram Head trail you have to first enter Salt Pond Bay first. There’s a lovely beach front that leads you to the salt pond, and then leads you to the trail head. The trail starts with a rocky path right on the ocean, if you look down the chances of seeing some dried up coral reef is very high. This is a little sad if you think about it, but once you get up the stair part of the trail you can look down at part of the coral reef that is still there and under water (also a great place to snorkel if you’re in to that).
We only made it about half way because me being the clumsy person I am wiped out and sprain my ankle pretty bad. There was a decent amount of blood too because I fell on some rocks, but Sally being the hero she is wiped off her shirt and stopped the bleeding. A couple passed us too and had disinfecting wipes which also helped.
I was not leaving without my picture, and I knew what I wanted it to look like…
Above is a picture of the side of Ram Head, the lovely hill people from all over to hike up. However, a lesser talked about history to Ram Head is the story of 300 Slaves. It is said that in 1733 the slaves that were on St. John island rebelled and took control of the island, this control lasted for about six months until French Troops came to take the land back.
Some of the slaves that were in control thought that instead of being captured, tortured, and possibly put back to inhumane working conditions they ran the distance of Rams Head and jumped off the end. While, this history isn’t directly related to the United States, this trail is still celebrated and the history of those slaves are not talked about as much as they should be. Too often we forgot about the histories of the beautiful places that we visit and we don’t take a second to stop and say “I’m sorry.” That is why Ram Head is what shaped my vision for the project. Stories of these beautiful trails, that should be celebrated, but that also stop and make people think before starting the journey that may have been a death walk for someone else.