Green Mountain

Ascension was bare volcanic rock and cinder when the British garrisoned it, and from the 1840s, on advice from Joseph Hooker after Darwin's visit, plants were shipped in by the thousand and planted on the summit to trap cloud and make water, so that the top of Green Mountain is now a dense forest of bamboo, ginger, guava and eucalyptus that exists entirely because people put it there. A trail circles the summit through it.

History

Early 19th-century visitors, Charles Darwin among them in July 1836, found Ascension barren, with only 25 to 30 native plant species, 10 of them endemic. Plants were then brought in on Joseph Hooker's plan, an Admiralty report of 1865 counted thickets of 40 kinds of trees and an excellent water supply, and the mineral dalyite was first found here in 1952 (Wikipedia, Green Mountain).

Highlights

• The planted cloud forest - vegetation shipped in from the 1840s onward.
• The Hooker scheme - the deliberate terraforming that followed Darwin's visit.
• The summit trail - the route circling the top through bamboo and ginger.
• The contrast - green forest above cinder and lava on all sides.

When to go

Year round; the summit is cool and damp in all seasons while the coast is hot. Cloud sits on the top most days. Trails are muddy.

What to expect

The forest is entirely artificial, which some find fascinating and others find hollow. Cloud usually closes the views. Reaching Ascension is difficult and depends on limited flights.

Nearby

Georgetown is west, and Two Boats is on the road up.

Key facts