Belize Wilderness

The Road Chose Me Volume 2 OUT NOW!!
The Road Chose Me Volume 2: Three years and 54,000 miles around Africa

We stay a night in Dangriga, which is really a non-event. Val’s Place is a nice Hostel, but there is really nothing to do here. In the morning we move on and decide we want to get off the beaten path and find some real jungle in Belize. We stop to get a tank of gas and pay $BZ 9 / gallon or $USD 4.50 / gallon – the fill-up costs $USD 75! We turn off the main highway and drive on pretty good gravel for the first 10km or so, then turn off onto a very windy track. Before long it’s pouring huge raindrops as we make our way through extremely dense jungle down a track steep enough to require low range 4×4. Kate is pretty nervous wondering how we could ever get back up, having not seen what the Jeep is capable of.

The road in through the dense jungle

This palm tree looked a thousand years old

We find Barton Creek Outpost without much trouble and can’t believe the paradise we have stumbled into. About five years ago an American couple built this cabin on steroids out in the jungle to get away from it all. They now host backpackers and volunteers for the company it provides. It continues to pour rain long into the night and thankfully we pitch our tent on the covered veranda. As the sun recedes the temperature drops fast and soon I find myself shivering uncontrollably so I dig out all my thermals and -7°C sleeping bag that I put away long ago. It turns out to be by far the coldest night I’ve had since I was snowed on in Yellowstone months ago.

Barton Creek Outpost, right on the water

Thousand-Foot (Hidden Valley) Falls

Big Rock Falls

Barton Creek Outpost is so great we spend another night camped on the deck, soaking in the serenity.

Trying to be friendly & I lost a chunk of my finger

The "cabin" at Barton Creek Outpost

-Dan