Yum:

Source of pics?

outstanding by teh way,.

Glimmertwin previously said:

Yum:

Source of pics?

outstanding by teh way,.

I will send you the info.



DominicanLady previously said:


Wow! Need I say more? You are going to make me pack my bags and get on the plane....
Awesome pics babe!

You're not the only one that wants to get away.

Why don't you post a nice picture of El Limon?

Pico Duarte - Sunrise, Sunset



Photo by Rufo Hill


Photo by atomicsquirrel2006





Pico Duarte is the highest peak in all the Caribbean islands and tallest mountain in all of the Americas outside of the great western cordilleras (Rockies, Andes and their associated systems). It lies in the Cordillera Central range, the greatest of the Dominican Republic's mountain chains. The Cordillera Central extends from the plains between San Cristóbal and Baní to the northwestern peninsula of Haiti, where it is known as Massif du Nord. The highest elevations of the Cordillera Central are found in the Pico Duarte and Valle Nuevo massifs.


History

Bust of Duarte, with La Pelona visible in the backgroundThe Pico Duarte was allegedly climbed for the first time in 1851 by the British consul to the country, Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk. He named the mountain Monte Tina and estimated its height at 3,140 m. In 1912, Father Miguel Fuertes dismissed Schomburgk's calculations after climbing La Rucilla and considering that it was the tallest summit of the island. A year later, the Swedish botanist Erik Leonard Ekman sided with the Englishman's estimate, thinking it was closer to the truth, and called the sister summits as Pelona Grande and Pelona Chica (Big and Small Pelona). During the Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina regime, the taller of the two was called Pico Trujillo, only to be renamed later, after the dictator's death, with its current name of Pico Duarte, in honor of Juan Pablo Duarte, one of the Dominican Republic's founding fathers. An East-facing bronze bust of Duarte atop a stone pedestal sits today at the very summit, next to a flagpole that bears the Dominican banner and a cross.


Geography

Topographical map of the Pico Duarte massif and its location within HispaniolaThe mountain's elevation continued to be debatable for decades, up until the mid-1990s, when it was still held to be 3,175 meters high. In 2003 it was measured by a researcher using GPS technology and it was found to be 3,098 meters. The official elevation as recorded by Dominican government agencies is 3,087 meters (as can be seen written on the sign in the photo), a measurement that has been confirmed by several groups of hikers using personal GPS consoles (the most recent verified one in January 2005). Despite this, SRTM data indicates that the professional survey is probably more accurate. It's only a few meters taller than La Pelona, its twin sister which stands at 3,094, and from which it is separated by a col between summits that's approximately 1.5 km wide, and is called Valle de Lilís (though it officially goes by the name of Valle del Baíto). The col's mean elevation is of 2,950 meters.


Ecology

The area has a climate that very few would associate as typical of a Caribbean island, with cool temperatures all year round, going several degrees below freezing during winter nights.

The mountain and the surrounding landscape are covered in pino de cuaba (Pinus occidentalis) forests. The pines frequently host the epiphytes guajaca (Tillandsia spp.) and the parasitic (Dendropemon pycnophyllus). Some areas, like the Valle de Lilís, are tree-less meadows of tussock-like pajones (Danthonia domingensis). The understory is composed of shrub such as Lyonia heptamera, Myrica picardae, Myrsine coriacea, Ilex tuerkheimii, Garrya fadyenii and Baccharis myrsinites. The composition of the vegetation is due to very acidic soil.

Typical fauna seen in the area includes the Hispaniolan Palm Crow (Corvus palmarum palmarum), Antillean Siskin (Carduelis dominicensis), Rufous-throated Solitaire (Myadestes genibarbis), Hispaniolan Crossbill (Loxia megaplaga) (abundance directly related to pine cone crop), and Hispaniolan Trogon (Priotelus roseigaster), while at lower elevations the Hispaniolan Amazon (Amazona ventralis), Scaly-naped Pigeon (Patagioenas squamosa) and Golden Swallow (Tachycineta euchrysea) can be seen. The presence of the Hispaniolan Solenodon (Solenodon paradoxus) and Hispaniolan Hutia (Plagiodontia aedium) in the broadleaf forests of lower elevations can be inferred but hasn't been confirmed in many years. Wild Boars, descendants of animals introduced to the island during the colonial period, have been reported.

A wildfire in 2003 altered the landscape of a large section of the eastern side of the mountain. However, as of 2008, what was once a hillside of charred trees is now a magnificent new-growth forest. While thousands of charred trees are still standing, a large variety of indigenous grasses and small plants are now growing, creating an even more varied experience to this already diverse ecology.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pico_Duarte

Pico Duarte and the Cordillera Central's national parks







Pico Duarte and the Cordillera Central's national parks