Makapu'u, Ka'ena Point, and Pu'u O Hulu Revisited

Re-runs, leftovers, re-boots. All of us enjoy some form of repeat. Last year we made our best attempt to hike a different trail every week. We were fairly successful---you can read about all of our hiking excursions in my O'ahu Exploration Blog Series. 

The past few weeks we have kept up with our good habit of hiking, even if the trails have been repeats of some of our favorites. We even invited a few new hiking tagalongs to join us. 

This past weekend we prevailed against gale force winds to reach the top of the Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail. The bonus of the winds? New hair styles and zero sweat climbing up. This trek we unfortunately did not get to enjoy views of the lighthouse, as it was under construction. Good thing we've seen it before. Our hiking crew expanded from four to five with the addition of grandma. She loved the views, and of course, outdoor time with the grandkids. 

Our second trail revisited was Ka'ena Point (Northshore side). It was another windy day so our hike was cut short, but not before we caught beautiful glimpses of the Pacific, jagged rocks, and the back side of the Wai'anae mountain range. 

It's still hard to believe that these views can be observed mid-January. 

Last, but definitely not least, on our Hiking 2.0 tour of trails, was the Pink Pill Box hike, also known as Pu'u O Hulu. 

Our return to this popular Ma'ili trail was filled with a ton of other trail goers. This was my third time on this trail and never had I seen so much "traffic". I'm guessing a day off from work (it was the MLK Jr holiday) combined with New Year Resolutions to "get fit" made for the perfect storm of extra heavy trail traffic. 

As always, sage words of wisdom could be found on top of the mountain. If only all graffiti could be so insightful and inspiring! 

Third times the charm they say---I finally got to see the Kanaka Maoli flag at the top/end of this trail. This yellow, green, and red flag is said to be King Kamehameha's flag before the British invaded. This historic flag only inhanced the view that was already beyond perfect. 

As we move forward through January and the rest of the year, I'm excited to see what new trails we conquer...and what old trails we continue to come back to again and again. I hope you'll follow along on our Majors Trails of 2017!