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Pico Duarte
Pico Duarte is the highest peak in the Dominican Republic, on the island of Hispaniola and in all the Caribbean. At 3,101 m (10,174 ft) above sea level, it gives Hispaniola the 16th-highest maximum elevation of any island in the world. Additionally, it is only 85 kilometres (53 miles) northeast of the region's lowest point, Lake Enriquillo, 46 m (151 ft) below sea level. It is part of the Cordillera Central range, which extends from the plains between San Cristóbal and Baní to the northwestern peninsula of Haiti, where it is known as the Massif du Nord. The highest elevations of the Cordillera Central are found in the Pico Duarte and Valle Nuevo massifs.
The first reported climb was made in 1851 by a German who was British consul: Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk. He named the mountain "Monte Tina" and estimated its height at 3,140 metres (10,300 ft). In 1912, Father Miguel Fuertes dismissed Schomburgk's calculations after climbing La Rucilla and judging it to be the tallest summit of the island. A year later, Swedish botanist Erik Leonard Ekman sided with Schomburgk's estimate, and called the sister summits "Pelona Grande" and "Pelona Chica" ("Big Bald One" and "Small Bald One", respectively). During the Rafael Trujillo Molina regime, the taller of the two was called "Pico Trujillo". After the dictator's death, it was renamed Pico Duarte, in honor of Juan Pablo Duarte, one of the Dominican Republic's founding fathers. At the summit is an east-facing bronze bust of Duarte atop a stone pedestal, next to a flagpole that flies the Dominican flag and a cross.
The mountain's elevation was debated for decades, up until the mid-1990s, when it was still held to be 3,175 metres (10,417 ft) high. In 2003, it was measured by a researcher using GPS technology, and it was found to be 3,098 metres (10,164 ft) tall. The official elevation as recorded by Dominican government agencies is 3,087 metres (10,128 ft), a measurement that has been confirmed by several groups of hikers using personal GPS consoles (the most recent verified one in January 2005). In 2021 a team of researchers using GSSM technology found that its altitude is 3,101.1 metres (10,174 ft) with a margin of error of 0.3 metres (1 ft 0 in).
It is only a few meters taller than La Pelona, its twin, which stands at 3,097 metres (10,161 ft), and from which it is separated by a col between summits that is approximately 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) wide, and is officially named Valle del Baíto, but unofficially called Valle de Lilís. The col's mean elevation is 2,950 metres (9,680 ft).
The area has an oceanic 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 treeless 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. All of these species are adapted to the acidic soil of the area.
Reptiles in the area include the endemic Panolopus marcanoi. Birds seen in the area include the endemic Hispaniolan palm crow (Corvus palmarum palmarum), Antillean siskin (Carduelis dominicensis), rufous-throated solitaire (Myadestes genibarbis), Hispaniolan crossbill (Loxia megaplaga) (whose abundance is directly related to the Hispaniolan pine cone crop), and Hispaniolan trogon (Priotelus roseigaster); at lower elevations the Hispaniolan amazon (Amazona ventralis), scaly-naped pigeon (Patagioenas squamosa) and golden swallow (Tachycineta euchrysea) can be seen. There are two extant mammals endemic to Hispaniola whose remaining range includes the broadleaf forests of lower elevations: the primarily nocturnal Hispaniolan solenodon (Solenodon paradoxus) and the Hispaniolan hutia (Plagiodontia aedium). Both are rarely seen, with the latter considered Endangered. Wild boar, 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. As of 2008, the hillside of charred trees is now a new-growth forest. While thousands of charred trees are still standing, a large variety of indigenous grasses and small plants are now growing.
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Pico Duarte
Pico Duarte is the highest peak in the Dominican Republic, on the island of Hispaniola and in all the Caribbean. At 3,101 m (10,174 ft) above sea level, it gives Hispaniola the 16th-highest maximum elevation of any island in the world. Additionally, it is only 85 kilometres (53 miles) northeast of the region's lowest point, Lake Enriquillo, 46 m (151 ft) below sea level. It is part of the Cordillera Central range, which extends from the plains between San Cristóbal and Baní to the northwestern peninsula of Haiti, where it is known as the Massif du Nord. The highest elevations of the Cordillera Central are found in the Pico Duarte and Valle Nuevo massifs.
The first reported climb was made in 1851 by a German who was British consul: Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk. He named the mountain "Monte Tina" and estimated its height at 3,140 metres (10,300 ft). In 1912, Father Miguel Fuertes dismissed Schomburgk's calculations after climbing La Rucilla and judging it to be the tallest summit of the island. A year later, Swedish botanist Erik Leonard Ekman sided with Schomburgk's estimate, and called the sister summits "Pelona Grande" and "Pelona Chica" ("Big Bald One" and "Small Bald One", respectively). During the Rafael Trujillo Molina regime, the taller of the two was called "Pico Trujillo". After the dictator's death, it was renamed Pico Duarte, in honor of Juan Pablo Duarte, one of the Dominican Republic's founding fathers. At the summit is an east-facing bronze bust of Duarte atop a stone pedestal, next to a flagpole that flies the Dominican flag and a cross.
The mountain's elevation was debated for decades, up until the mid-1990s, when it was still held to be 3,175 metres (10,417 ft) high. In 2003, it was measured by a researcher using GPS technology, and it was found to be 3,098 metres (10,164 ft) tall. The official elevation as recorded by Dominican government agencies is 3,087 metres (10,128 ft), a measurement that has been confirmed by several groups of hikers using personal GPS consoles (the most recent verified one in January 2005). In 2021 a team of researchers using GSSM technology found that its altitude is 3,101.1 metres (10,174 ft) with a margin of error of 0.3 metres (1 ft 0 in).
It is only a few meters taller than La Pelona, its twin, which stands at 3,097 metres (10,161 ft), and from which it is separated by a col between summits that is approximately 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) wide, and is officially named Valle del Baíto, but unofficially called Valle de Lilís. The col's mean elevation is 2,950 metres (9,680 ft).
The area has an oceanic 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 treeless 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. All of these species are adapted to the acidic soil of the area.
Reptiles in the area include the endemic Panolopus marcanoi. Birds seen in the area include the endemic Hispaniolan palm crow (Corvus palmarum palmarum), Antillean siskin (Carduelis dominicensis), rufous-throated solitaire (Myadestes genibarbis), Hispaniolan crossbill (Loxia megaplaga) (whose abundance is directly related to the Hispaniolan pine cone crop), and Hispaniolan trogon (Priotelus roseigaster); at lower elevations the Hispaniolan amazon (Amazona ventralis), scaly-naped pigeon (Patagioenas squamosa) and golden swallow (Tachycineta euchrysea) can be seen. There are two extant mammals endemic to Hispaniola whose remaining range includes the broadleaf forests of lower elevations: the primarily nocturnal Hispaniolan solenodon (Solenodon paradoxus) and the Hispaniolan hutia (Plagiodontia aedium). Both are rarely seen, with the latter considered Endangered. Wild boar, 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. As of 2008, the hillside of charred trees is now a new-growth forest. While thousands of charred trees are still standing, a large variety of indigenous grasses and small plants are now growing.