Boiling Lake

Boiling Lake is one of the most popular attractions in Morne Trois Pitons National Park. This eerie-looking pool of bubbling, gray-green water lies at the end of a strenuous, three-hour hike through thick forest. But it's worth it.

The lake rests at the bottom of a large sinkhole-like basin. More accurately, it is a flooded fumarole, generally located within the vicinity of a volcano, which emits steam and gases escaping from molten magma below. Currently, the lake is viewable from a broad, cliff-top ledge about 100 feet (30 m) directly above its shore. High rock walls surround and create the basin.

The lake's grayish-blue water is easily viewed in its perpetual rolling-boil state which looks like a giant pot of water cooking and steaming on a stove. The basin's water is replenished by rainfall and two small streams which drain into the area. The water then seeps down to the magma and is heated to the boiling point. The trail leads through another volcanic area called the Valley of Desolation. The air around the area is hot, steamy and moist, supported by the sharp, acrid smell of sulphur. The area is known to have been filled with vapors and gases that escape from bubbling and boiling sulfur-water pots, small spraying and hissing geysers, cracks and holes, and a small stream that runs through and beneath the terrain. Tiny invisible sprays of steam will easily burn an ankle or foot.