Cliff Exploration: Pali Puka

If you hike O'ahu trails with any frequency, you make a mental list of trails that are 

1) your favorite 

2) your least favorite 

3) easy 

4) challenging 

5) great to take friends/family that visit 

6) long 

7) wet 

8) picturesque

9) must do

10) EPIC 

For me, Pali Puka falls under the category of EPIC.  It also, until this past Sunday, fell under the category of "must do" on my hiking list.  I'm so happy and lucky to have checked this one off the list.  If you have never heard of the Pali Puka trail, please take a moment now to Google, YouTube, look up Instagram hashtags for this hike...  

Right?!  Now that you are back from your Internet field trip, you are thinking 1-my pictures are nowhere near as good as other pictures out there from this same trail and 2-I'm crazy. Both are true.

And now I will type up my extreme words of caution, my disclaimer, my warning...
This hike is NOT for those who have a fear of heights.  It's NOT for young children.  It IS for those with some level of hiking experience (shoe spikes and gloves come in handy if it is wet/muddy when you take this trail on), knowledge of using ropes on hikes, adventurers, sober people, crazy moms (and two guys that came on this group excursion). I don't want to tell you NOT to do this hike, but I will say that I had anxiety dreams prior to going on this hike.  And then I did it...and I felt amazing.  Choose wisely.

This trail was not terribly long, not even a mile roundtrip.  But the terrain on the day we went was cloudy and muddy.  Yes, cloudy can be used to describe the terrain for this hike.  We were literally hiking in the clouds.  That white you see in all the photos...it's clouds.  We were hiking on the side of a tall mountain with a narrow, rocky, and sometimes muddy pathway and all we could see---clouds. You know when you are flying in an airplane and you look out the window and all you see is---clouds?  Yeah, that was this trail the entire way up.  And then we arrived at our destination, the Puka or hole, in the immense rock along the Pali Lookout/Highway, and suddenly the clouds decided to roll away.  I hiked to watch weather.  It was fascinating.

Death defying?  Yep.  Exciting?  You bet. Beautiful? Extremely.  New bonds made? For sure.  Badge earned?  Yes. (Badass Badge is what I'm calling it.)  

I couldn't have accomplished this epic trail without the two amazing LEADS: Lacy Rueschenberg and Courtney Caranguian---rockstar ladies!  And it also wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Yoonie Leake and Mallory Cribbs.  That's right, first and last name shout outs because these four women/moms are legit, and the reason why I can cross this off my hiking "to do" list.  They took pictures, they made jokes, they held hands, and they kept any lingering anxieties I had at bay.  

And even though there are many who think this hike is a "cake walk", I'm wearing my BA Badge with honor.  Pali Puka will have a special place in my hiking heart for all the beauty, courage, and thrill seeking this trail inspires.  

And of course...the finale...the ombre pink surprise from Starbucks.  I was going to live on the edge twice in one day and order the Unicorn Frappuccino...then wimped out (I know, you would think after that hike nothing would scare me) and only lived halfway on the edge with this pink refresher mixed with coconut.  Later, I realized this drink was perfect for after this hike.  It was unexpected, shocking, unique, refreshing, short lived, but satisfying---just like the epic Pali Puka.