Blue Mountain Peak is the highest mountain in Jamaica at 2,256 metres (7,402 ft). It is the home of Blue Mountain coffee and their famous tours. Blue Mountain Peak is the second highest peak in the Caribbean after Pico Duarte of the Dominican Republic. It is located on the border of the Portland and Saint Thomas parishes of Jamaica.
The Blue Mountains are considered by many to be a hiker's and camper's paradise. The traditional Blue Mountain trek is a 7-mile (10 km) hike to the peak and consists of a 3,000-foot (1,000 m) increase in elevation. Jamaicans prefer to reach the peak at sunrise, thus the 3–4 hour hike is usually undertaken in darkness. Since the sky is usually very clear in the mornings, Cuba can be seen in the distance. Some of the plants found on the Blue Mountain cannot be found anywhere else in the world and they are often of a dwarfed sort. This is mainly due to the cold climate which inhibits growth. The small coffee farming communities of Claverty Cottage and Hagley Gap are located near the peak.
Famous quotes containing the words blue, mountain and/or peak:
“Dear Friend,
the canebrakes
nestled in the riverbank’s lap,
their clusters broken
from the weight of blue bees,
have in time
become stumps.”
—Hla Stavhana (c. 50 A.D.)
“The mountain stood there to be pointed at.
Pasture ran up the side a little way,
And then there was a wall of trees with trunks;
After that only tops of trees, and cliffs
Imperfectly concealed among the leaves.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“In the mountains, the shortest way is from peak to peak: but for that you must have long legs. Aphorisms should be peaks: and those to whom they are addressed, great and lofty.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)