The hiking trail to Middleham Falls on the Caribbean island of Dominica is all wet leaves, slippery black stones and steps formed by tree roots.
It could be a path in Middle-earth, shrouded, shadowy and green, fit for hobbits and fairies.
Where sunlight pierced the canopy, rainbows formed in the mist, almost close enough to poke.
Here and there, hummingbirds drew nectar from huge blossoms.
The goal on that January day: a 200-foot forest cascade filling and refilling little pools on the valley floor, where I could — as one does in the secret hot pools and isolated waterfalls of Dominica — shed my clothes, slip into water and commune with the hummingbirds like a fairy queen.
Locations:
Dominica, Dominica —