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Showing posts from March, 2017

Surf and Turf: Koko Crater Botanical Garden and Ka Iwi Coastline

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Twofer Tuesday! Two trails today---one inside the crater of a volcano, the other down to the deep blue water of the Pacific Ocean.  The original plan for today was a quick and easy two mile loop hike in the crater of Kokohead where there is a free Botanical Garden. The gravelly dirt path that winds through the bottom of the crater takes you through a plumeria grove, a pack of cactus, large boulders, and patches of other vegetation I'm unfamiliar with.  We've had out of town guests visiting and haven't hiked as much over the past couple of weeks, so a low key trail seemed like the best plan. This is seriously an easy hike...that my five year old still managed to dislike, complain, and even slip and fall on. I guess he didn't miss our regular hiking schedule as much as I did.  We managed to complete the loop without a major meltdown, but I was feeling like I wasn't quite ready for our adventure day to be over.  As we headed out of the garden, we decided to make a quic

Northshore Exploration: Pu'u O Mahuka

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Today's adventure brought me to O'ahu's northshore---Pupukea, above Waimea to be more precise. There is a hiking trail at the end of the road behind Pupukea Foodland that I have done, but today my time was limited---my outing needed to be accomplished before noon, so I decided on a return to Pu'u O Mahuka Heiau. Heiau is defined as a sacred historic Hawaiian temple. Pu'u O Mahuka is the largest heiau on O'ahu and translates to mean 'hill of escape'. It definitely felt like I was escaping the city and modern life today. It's beautiful here.  Besides the gorgeous view, there were plants, leis, and offerings laid respectfully to honor ancestors.    The trail around the rock walls of the heiau enable visitors to take in the Waianae Mountains, Waimea Bay, Waimea Valley, and the horizon on the Pacific Ocean. The weather was perfect for the walk down the path that led to another vantage point of Waimea waves crashing on big black rocks below. And of course,

Besties, Birthdays, Bridges, and Bays: Hanauma Bay Ridge Revisited

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There are some hikes you do that you almost immediately forget about. While you are on the trail, they are nice, but sometimes there is nothing terribly memorable or appealing about the path and scenery. That is NOT the case for the 3.5 miles of Hanauma Bay Ridge Trail. This past weekend I returned to the same trail I did for my birthday hike last month. This time it was for my best gal pals big 40th birthday hike.  The weather couldn't have been better---blue skies with a slight breeze were the perfect conditions to do this uphill/downhill/rocky/no shade (save one lonely Kiawe bush) trail. Since this was round two on this trail for me, I thought I would be better prepared. It's true I found parking and the trailhead with zero problems. But, that initial hill in the beginning...still wore me out! I tried to  pace myself and even ended up walking backwards part of the time...which totally backfired when I lost my footing and tumbled abruptly onto my butt. No injuries sustained,

Honolulu Exploration: Makiki Valley Loop Trail

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Tuesday Trail: Makiki Edition. We added another hiking buddy to today's trail. After a whiny, complaining, hungry, and multiple trips/non-serious falls from the five year old---let's hope she decides to join us again!  Makiki Valley Loop Trail is a 2.5 mile trail that actually consists of three individual trails. Kanealole Trail is .7 miles of uphill trail over roots and rocks with sights of a stream and bamboo. Kanealole meets up with Makiki Valley Loop Trail that is a 1.1 mile series of gradual switchbacks that meets up with three other trails at a junction of "which way should we go". But, in order to return to our car parked by The Hawaii Nature Center, we headed down the final part of today's hike on Maunalaha Trail. Maunalaha was another .7 miles of downhill hiking ( uphill if you take the loop counterclockwise ). This section of the three in one trail was my favorite. Big roots, big trees, big shade, peek-a-boo views of Honolulu and the Pacific in the dista