Sokehs Rock and Ridge

Sokehs Rock lifts its bare basalt face over Kolonia's harbour - Pohnpei's Diamond Head by local billing - and the ridge behind it carries the island's best short climb: the trail works up through hibiscus and fern to the crest where the panorama deals harbour, town, reef-ringed lagoon and the island's cloud-wrapped interior in one sweep. The ridge also holds history's traces from the island's colonial chapters, told simply where marked. The rock face itself tempts climbers; the ridge viewpoint serves everyone else with the photograph and the trade-wind cool. The Germans built the road around its base, and the climb up the back is steep enough to need ropes in places.

What you actually see

• The summit sweep - harbour, reef and cloud-interior in one.
• The basalt face - the rock's bare profile above town.
• The ridge trail - hibiscus-and-fern climbing.
• The history traces - the ridge's marked past.

When to go

December to April for drier trail and clearer crest; mornings beat both cloud and heat.

Honest expectations

The trail runs muddy-steep in stretches - Pohnpei's default; local guiding courtesies apply on Sokehs land.

Nearby

Kolonia town, the harbour and the north reef passes.