Hikes on Guam: The Latte Trail at Ritidian Point

Basic Information

• Name: The Latte Trail
• Where: Ritidian Point, Guam
• Distance: 2 miles roundtrip
• Elevation Gain: 26 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• More Information: The Best Tracks on Guam

Map of the Hike

Narrative

After I finished checking out the visitor center and the beach at the Guam National Wildlife Refuge, I decided to go hike the various trails located in the park:

What I found out was that the trails on the signboard are inaccurate because some of the trailheads have been closed off such as the one that begins at the visitor center. So I proceeded to walk down the dirt road through the refuge to find another trailhead to access:

As I walked down the road the rules of the refuge were made quite clear to everyone visiting:

As I walked down the road I came to a clearing where a sign pointed me towards another trailhead:

As I walked across the clearing I could not help, but be impressed with the views of the 512 foot Mt. Machanao:

At the end of the clearing I spotted the sign pointing towards the nature trail:

By Guam standards this trail is a super highway:

I am so used to hiking on horribly maintained trails on Guam that it was refreshing to experience a maintained trail for once.  Since I have seen plenty of jungle on Guam before I did not really see anything new during this section of my hike:

I did see this nasty looking spider though:

After about a half mile the trail looped back to the dirt road:

I continued to follow the dirt road where I found another trailhead closed off:

I kept going down the road until I found the trailhead for the one-mile long Latte Trail:

This trail was also in fantastic shape until I reached the turn off for the Chamorro burial site:

The trail to the burial site is largely non-existent:

I did not even know if I found the burial site because the trail faded into nothing and I was just wandering around the jungle knocking down spider webs:

I eventually was able to find the main trail again.  Note to the US Fish Wildlife Service, if you don’t plan to maintain the trail then take down the sign to the burial site.  A short walk down the main trail I next came to the latte site which gives the trail its name:

The latte stones were used by native Chamorro as foundations for their huts:

These lattes can only be found in the Marianas Islands and are used as a symbol of Guam’s rich culture:

The lattes I saw at Ritidian were heavily eroded and some of the smallest I have seen on the island:

However, for those that have not seen lattes before this trail provides easy access to see some:

From the latte site the trail follows the cliff line:

Along the cliff line the trail passes by an old Spanish well:

Some of the stones the Spanish placed centuries ago are still visible even though water is no longer in the well:

From the Spanish well the trail continued to follow the cliff line:

This section of the trail had many small caves that could be seen:

I imagined that these caves would be used as emergency shelter centuries ago for the Chamorros whenever large typhoons passed over the island:

From the caves the trail then headed back towards the dirt road:

As I followed the dirt road back to the visitor center I decided to walk over to the beach and walk up it for awhile:

The scenery was quite stunning as I walked up the beach:

I eventually cut back through the jungle to get back on the dirt road where I was rewarded with yet another stunning view of Mt. Machanao:

Conclusion

I recommend a visit to Ritidian Point as part of any itinerary on Guam.  The scenery is stunning and best of all it is free.  If visiting the wildlife refuge I recommend hiking the Latte Trail to fully experience the park.  For those that drive to the end of the dirt road it is only a one-mile roundtrip hike.  For those like me that decide to begin the hike from the visitor center it then becomes a two-mile round trip hike.  Either way it is not a big time commitment to experience the beauty of this wonderful place on Guam.  Even better is that afterwards you can lounge around on one of the most beautiful beaches on Guam.

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