Fifty and falling apart! Hiking info needed.

[DonnaM]

I am coming down on Sunday with 2 friends to celebrate a 50th bday. The birthday girl just informed me that she has a bum knee which will limit our hiking. Since my sons and husband are not early risers or avid hikers, I was really looking forward to trying some new ones with the girls! She can walk and even do the elliptical so I am looking for suggestions for hikes that have solid footing and not dramatic elevation changes. We have never walked the Lind Point trail. Will this be a good choice? Any other suggestions are appreciated!

[Lovermont]

Walking out to Waterlemon comes to mind. If she has the strength, but needs to take it slowly, she could do Ram Head too. I know I celebrated my 50th with a bum knee on STJ, and I did my normal hiking, just a little slower and more carefully.
Our #1 hiking source is the Trail Bandit map. http://www.trailbandit.org/

[54b]

I second Lovermont's suggestion for the Leinster trail out towards Waterlemon Cay. The first mile (starting from the Annaberg parking lot) is basically flat and follows the shoreline, so you have a great view out looking at Leinster Bay the whole way out and back. Right at the 1 mile point, just beyond the Leinster Beach, the trail forks...left allows you to go out to where a lot of snorkelers enter the water to snorkel Waterlemon Cay (it's basically flat, but it gets rockier as you go along) and to the right is the beginning of the Johnny Horn Trail. You'll know it immediately because the first part of the Johnny Horn Trail requires a pretty good ascent, but you don't have to go far and if you and your friends are up to it, there are two sets of neat reuins overlooking the cay, the first about quarter mile up the JH Trail and the 2nd set, maybe about half mile up the JH trail.

I like Ram Head too, but it's 3 miles round trip with some decent ups and downs. With a bum knee, that may be too taxing after a while.

Lind Point isn't too vertical on its own and would likely be a good option. It's about a mile from the National Park Office to the spur trail that heads down to Salomon. That spur is pretty vertical and rocky, but it's not too long and if your friend takes it easy, should be fine.

You can also approach the Lind Point trail and Salomon from Caneel Bay passing by Honeymoon beach and that trail is very flat and easy to traverse. You just have to know that if you park at Caneel, it's $20 for non-guests (per car, not per person), but that $20 can be spent at their bar or gift shop instead of just paying for it straight out.

Hope that helps.

[DonnaM]

Thanks! Ram Head is my favorite hike but we plan to leave her on the beach watching our stuff. It's too far and remote if she has any problems and I'm not carrying her! I did think about Leinster as the kind of walk she could do. I'll check FF&4WD when we get down there and I'm pretty sure I have the trail bandit map too.

[toes in the sand]

Cinnamon Bay Beach is a great beach for walking and there is a trail to Little Cinnamon that is not terribly treacherous. There is also a self guided trail near the entrance to Cinnamon that is shaded and easy.

[kklay]

The walk from Caneel to Honeymoon is doable. I've done it several times with my bad, bone-on-bone knee.

[Torpnubber]

I hope you are having a stress free travel day today.
I suggest you travel to Little Lameshur and hike the Yawzi Point Trail. The hike will only take ten to fifteen minutes one way, there is very little elevation, and the views of Great Lameshur, Little Lameshur, and Europa Bay are stunning. Best of all, when the hike is over, you'll be planted on one of the loveliest beaches on island.
Have a great trip, I'll be doing the walk of shame in three days.