Hiking Gorda Peak National Park on Virgin Gorda

Most people visiting Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands head straight to the beaches and for good reason. The most beautiful beaches on Virgin Gorda are famous for their towering boulders by the water. But if you want to explore the island further, head north to Gorda Peak National Park where you can do a bit of hiking.

About Gorda Peak National Park

Gorda Peak National Park was established as a national park in 1974 and consists of 254 acres. It’s also the highest peak on Virgin Gorda at 1,370 feet. It’s a protected, forested area and high on the conservation list because it’s one of the last Caribbean dry forests.

You can hike through the forest up to the peak and look for some tropical plants and animals along the way. There are several Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs) on Virgin Gorda (Gorda Peak being one of them) with several native plant species that have high conservation importance. You can find more information about the species and areas on the trail signs at the second entrance.

Look very carefully for animals–Virgin Gorda is home to one of the smallest lizards in the world: the Virgin Gorda dwarf sphaero. It’s a miniature gecko that measures only about 18mm long–roughly the size of a dime. While we didn’t see any of those, we did see a particularly blue lizard along the trail.

Hiking Gorda Peak

Gorda Peak National Park is located in the central part of Virgin Gorda. The trailheads (there are two) are both located off of North Sound Road on the east side of the park.

The road along the central part takes you up the hills of Gorda Peak and is a very winding road. The trailheads are right off the road and it’s easy to miss them as you’re winding around corners.

Trailhead + Parking

The first trailhead (if driving north) is a longer, easier route that takes about 45-50 minutes to get to the summit. The second trailhead is a steeper, shorter and more moderate hike, and takes about 25 minutes to reach the summit.

However, neither of them really have great places to park except along the road, which also doesn’t really have a shoulder. The first trailhead (the longer route) has a very small rocky area right next to the sign where we parked our Jeep. It could maybe fit two cars there.

The second trailhead has no parking area whatsoever and is just stairs off the road. You’d have to park on the road or park at the nearest viewpoint and then walk up the road from there, which also isn’t great.

I was hiking with my aunt and uncle, who are in there 70s, and we decided to take the longer, leisurely trail up.

Hiking the Trail

The longer trail starts out pretty flat and gradually inclines along the way. It’s pretty well-maintained with a few areas where the path gets narrow and you need to duck between some trees. You’ll be scrambling up over some rocks and roots as well.

There are two places with picnic tables along the trail. One of them is near the intersection of the two trails and the other is right past the boulder at the top of the peak. The boulder and the second picnic area is how you’ll know you’ve reached the top.

Gorda Peak

At one point, there was an observation tower at the top of Gorda Peak, but it was destroyed in Hurricane Irma. They’ve since removed nearly all of the wooden planks from the tower. There was also a wooden ladder at some point that you could use to climb up the boulder, but there was nothing in sight.

To get up the boulder, you have to do a little scramble and hold on to some nearby trees. (Different boulder from the picture above.) And once at the top, you get…a similar view to the one you can see from the road.

As far as views go, it’s pretty underwhelming. Especially because you can get views of the surrounding islands from many other places on the island without hiking. There’s also not a clearing at the top, so your only view is peeking over the foliage from the boulder.

We spent about 10 minutes at the top before deciding to head back down. We also decided to take the steeper trail down to see what it was like and because it’s 25 minutes vs 45 minutes. Definitely easier to go down than up.

However, we had parked at the other entrance. So then we had to walk along the road, which would not have saved us any time whatsoever had a stranger in a pickup truck not offered to give us a ride.

Best Time to Go

The trail to Gorda Peak is mostly shaded, so there isn’t a bad time to do this hike. The picnic tables are also mostly shaded if you wanted to stop and eat. We did this hike around mid-morning and it was pleasant–a slight breeze and not too hot.

Worth doing?

If you’re someone who likes to get some exercise, this is a trail to do just that. It’s something different to do than the Virgin Gorda beaches and doesn’t take too long. You won’t have views along the trail and the top of the trial is underwhelming but it’s something to do to explore the island. Would I do it again? If I wanted to get some exercise and take a break from the beach.

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