Visit Grand Etang Lake during the Grand Etang Shore Hiking Trail in Grand Etang National Park or Mt Qua Qua in the company of Telfor Bedeau, the island’s most dedicated hiker.
He has been hailed as Grenada ’s Indiana Jones and Huckleberry Finn, he is the “King of Hiking.”
It’s lots of fun trekking through the rainforest with a lake 1,740 feet above sea level, enjoying some very exciting sights and sounds, and Bedeau’s deadpan jokes.

Telfor has managed to make the love of his life support him - he is a hiking guide.
He does not have a car and he is not a taxi driver.
On the contrary he finds that traveling by bus gives him and his customers much more freedom.
You don't have to finish where you started - you can walk from one parish to another and just hop on a bus.
For those who share his views this is both an adventurous and inexpensive way to see Grenada.

Mt. Qua Qua rises to a height of over 2,370 ft (720 m).
The trail to and along its ridge passes by Grand Etang Lake and then rises up to the higher altitudes, cooler temperatures, and elfin mountain forests of the upper slopes.
Hiking the trail takes about an hour and a half, with frequently steep and sometimes slippery sections that require some caution.
One of the primary attractions of this walk, in addition to the panoramic prospects available from its occasional clearings, is that it provides a comprehensive introduction to the varied plant and animal life of both the rainforest and mountain ecosystems of Grand Etang.
Mount Qua Qua Hiking Trail Grenada

Hiking to the top of Mt. Qua Qua. Mark Stevens with Telfor Bedeau
Mark Stevens is a Bolton, Ont.-based freelance writer.
His trip was subsidized by the Grenada Board of Tourism.

Mount QUA-QUA, Grenada–We've stopped along a steep trail en route to the summit of Mt Qua Qua.

My right hand grasps a liana vine dangling from a mahogany tree, my left clings to the root of unidentified tree, though I know that guide Telfor Bedeau, standing high above me, could easily supply genus, phylum and the local name.

More power to the "Indiana Jones of Grenada" even if, right now, I am not in a position to catalogue the botanical wonders of one of the best examples of Caribbean rain forest.
Telfor Bedeau is going to be 69 years old on his next birthday.
His skin doesn't have a wrinkle on it, there's not an ounce of fat on his frame, and his thighs are small but strong as bamboo stalks.

But it's not just his age that's so intimidating.
Wearing a cheap pair of plastic sandals he negotiates these razorback ridges like a mountain goat.
He has logged close to 20,000 kilometres of hiking on Grenada, having taken his first stroll in 1962.

"I was 22 years old at the time but I still love it," he says.
Bedeau still hikes for fun and offers guided tours at varying levels of difficulty.

"I like the freedom," he says, in a soft-spoken voice that's sometimes hard to hear in the winds that creak in the bamboo and scurry down the black-diamond slopes.
"I go where I want and when I want."

But he doesn't just hike.
He built a three-metre rowboat and rowed around Grenada. Twice.
He's just taken up windsurfing. And he swims eight kilometres a day.
He wears a sleeveless shirt that says "Just do it," a light raincoat, and swim shorts.
A machete dangles in a homemade leather scabbard at his side.

Bedeau gingerly touches a stand of innocuous-looking grass and slices off a few stalks with a slash of his machete.
He rubs them against his raincoat and the barbs stick like Velcro.
"Guardian of the forest," he says. "Razor grass. Slice your skin right off."
He's a wonderful guide and Grenada's a splendid place to hike.

"Such a wealth of trails here," says Bedeau. "Fedons Camp Trek  is probably the most demanding.
And you can do Mount St. Catherine or Concord Falls.
Up north around Levera it is really beautiful, but not so hard. Morne LaBaye Hiking Trail  is child's play.
And the Seven Sisters is a nice little stroll."

Grenada's volcanic origins make for steep ridges that lend themselves to challenging hikes.
Those peaks are sufficiently high (Mount St. Catherine is the tallest at 822 metres) to attract clouds and cause the necessary precipitation to qualify the area as rain forest.
Grand Etang alone gets something like 400 centimetres of rain a year.


There's kilometre after kilometre of hiking trails from beginner level to those sufficient to challenge Indiana Jones-types like Bedeau, who is both supportive and encouraging when I freeze in panic some 200 metres above the forest floor.
"It doesn't get any worse than this, does it?" I ask.
"Well, yes, there are some fairly tricky spots."
"How long is the trail?"
"For a Grenadian or a tourist?"
"Me."
"Perhaps three hours. It generally takes me an hour."
I shake my head in dismay. I will not be climbing Qua-Qua.

We turn back and make for a trail around the crater lake at Grand Etang and I realize that I don't have to do one of the island's most challenging hikes to derive pleasure from tramping around Grenada.
I begin to forgive myself for my fear, but I still feel bad when we break from the forest and clean up at a rusty tap affixed to the back wall of the park interpretive centre.
"I'm sorry I failed," I say.
"What failure?" Bedeau says and pats me on the shoulder.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with but one step.
And today you have taken many steps."

10,000 miles of hiking in Grenada’s Grand Etang National Park

The day that Hurricane Ivan struck Grenada (September 7th 2004) he realized that the mile count was at 9,488 miles and needed only 512 miles to make the 10,000.
He then set out to make this milestone a reality by hiking 21.3 miles over 24 consecutive Sundays, always in his ‘jellies.’
Edwin Frank, public relations officer for the Grenada Board of Tourism said,
“This massive task was done despite the reality of the Grand Etang hiking trails being damaged or inaccessible with much of the rainforest destroyed by the impact of the hurricane.
” Frank added, “Telfor watched the transition of Grand Etang from being totally denuded to regaining most of its lush vegetation, unique flora, animal life and select hiking trails being re-opened during his quest.”

A celebration of Telfor’s achievement took place in the enchanting hideaway of ‘Almost Paradise’ in Saint Patrick Parish  on April 10th 2005 where he was presented with a mahogany engraved plaque in the shape of Grenada.