Life of Larisa or LOL

Time for another Thursday Trails edition! Today we explored luxurious Lanikai. On the windward side of O'ahu, down the street from Kailua Beach, there sits an upscale community, a gorgeous beach, a Presidential golf course, and a highly trafficked trail known as the Lanikai Pillboxes.  There's even a sign.  The other two times I did this hike, we came to the trail from the back end. Today, we took the more traditional route. I've decided I prefer this more popular entrance. The trail seemed much shorter! Or maybe I'm finally getting acclimated to steep inclines! Our first views were of the Mokulua islands. Always a treat to look at. And photograph. My second view...a pit of spray paint, maybe not the best view .  We arrived at the first pillbox before I knew it! The views here were political graffiti...and more glimpses of the offshore islands.  Much like the westside Pillbox hike, the views from the top of this hike are stunning---no matter how many times you go....

Learn something new everyday. Today, I learned there is a lovely neighborhood park in walking distance from my house...and a fabulous hiking trail just behind that!  Today we were finally able to go on a hike---without driving (well, sort of...more on that later). We simply geared up, walked out of our house and to a trail we'd never explored before. Adventure Saturday! Today's hike was 2.2 miles (one way) on a partially old paved road, winding around the back woods of Mililani, down to Kipapa Stream, back up to...Costco in Waipio. Say what? We truly had not planned on arriving on the oustskirts of a farm that is directly across from our local Costco. Hiking truly lands you in the most unexpected places.   Along our route we encountered dirt bikers, a small band of pre-teen scooter riders, a couple of farm hands in a truck, a very intimidating junkyard dog, zero other hikers, and a friendly Starbucks Barista.  That's right, after our Saturday surprise hiking adventure, we...

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...

Happy 2017 from on top of a mountain! We tackled our first trail of the new year today. Along the crystal blue shores of Makaha you can see fishermen, boaters, surfers, sea life, sunny skies, and a little mountain known as Mauna Lahilahi.  On countless trips to Makaha we have glimpsed hikers going up and down what appeared to be crazy, jagged rocks. We glimpsed the Hawaiian flag glistening in the sun with a beautiful tapestry of blue behind it. We all wanted to take a closer look! Today was that day. We parked in the neighborhood at the base of Lahilahi. Conveniently, the street name is also...Lahilahi. From the car to the top, we let instinct guide us. There was no clear path. This is not a state sanctioned trail and there are signs warning of danger---mostly (I'm guessing) from falling off rocks and rocks potentially falling on you .  Should you choose to throw caution to the wind and blaze a trail of your choosing up the side of this mountain, make sure to wear a hat, shad...