Koko Head

Over 1000 feet elevation gain. 1082 Railroad ties. 0.8 miles. I have promised myself that I would do this trek  ... once. After several trips to the Island, I figured I had to finally bite the bullet. The Musician told me to "have fun" because he wasn't foolish enough to do the climb. The tour guides point out that really only tourists do this. Plan was to start early before the heat of the day, so we did ...headed past Hawaii Kai and to the Koko Head Park around 7 AM. Got there at 8 AM (ish) and the parking lot was full. WHAT!?!?!





There is NO shade. Short trek to the base of the railroad. It goes straight up from there. When you think you are climbing straight up, you aren't, it just gets steeper. Oh, and you ... well at least I ... can't take one step at a time. Just a wee bit too far apart. So I had to be careful to balance legs so that one didn't do more work than the other.

Halfway up, there is a bridge. WHAT!?!?!? I new about this and thought I could do it. But, I got asceered. (Yes, I mean asceered, which is worse than scared.) I wasn't sure of my balance since my legs were shaky (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it) and it is a long way down. I had to bear crawl my way across. I think it took longer and was probably more exhausting than just walking it, but what can I say. Afeer got ahold of me.

You can just make out Hawaii Kai

Reaching the top was totally worth it. The views are, as always on the Island, spectacular. I think I said that word a lot on this trip.

Incredible view of Hanuama Bay

Rermants from World War II

 

The problem with reaching the top, is that there only one way down. By foot. I don't know which was harder... up, or down... So, I headed back. I have to mention here that it's not just tourists. Locals with their dogs use this for exercise. And I came across a few fools who run up and down and up and down several times a day for exercise. They didn't seem nearly as winded as me. Anyway, I had to alternate legs down also. I didn't know which was worse, the shaky leg, or the screaming knee. 

I have to mention that I was asceered when I came across the bridge going downhill also. I think it was worse going down than going up. And I'm blaming my tired legs, not my fear of heights that I don'g think I have. I bear-crawled again. DAMMIT!!! Even worse, half-way across, I looked over my shoulder to see some spry 20-something hopping past along a trail that goes around the bridge. I could have avoided the bridge altogether and not crawled like a baby. 

I was happy to be finished. Proud of myself for doing it, but not convinced that I need to do it again ... until next time. 

Waterfalls and Ruins ... and the beauty of children's voices

I can imagine King Kamehameha looking out his window and enjoying the beauty that surrounds this place.

Our friends told us about this short, but lovely, trek just up the road from the Judd Trail. It would be very reasonable to do this on the same day, but we really wanted to have a low-key, relaxed trip and decided to do some easy hikes on separate days. Gave us time to do other things in between ... or rest.

The main reason for this hike is Kaniakapupu ... King Kamehameha II Summer Home. This is a sacred site to the locals and to be respected. Many people don't want the location advertised to keep it from being trampled by tourists. So, I won't give precise directions. There are plenty of cut-outs in the brush that all lead to the same trail. If you take an off-shoot trail, you'll find yourself back on the road. How do I know this? I explored those off-shoots ... and kept ending up in the same place ... well, different place, same road. You would think I would learn after one or two ... nope three. Anyway, here is the entrance we chose.

The path was narrow and very muddy on the day we visited. Good thing we had shoes we expected to get soggy. We did encounter lots of people on our hike going in and coming out. There were busloads of school children, summer camp, maybe? Anyway, at one point we let them pass us and we took a different route for awhile to go up to the waterfalls. Fun, though, we could hear them sing a song of praise and gratitude when they reached the ruins. On the way back, we heard some express their dismay at the muddy trek.

 Mostly, the fauna was bamboo and green brush. I'm not a botanist, but maybe I will be in one of my next lives. I really love plants.

As we headed up the trail, we came across a few obstacles to climb over, or under.

After, maybe 10 minutes, the water could be heard rushing past. There were several points to see several falls. The trail at this point has lots of water pipes alongside that are all heading down to the water treatment plant. To see the water, you have to head off the trail a bit. It still seems semi-marked, but you will reach points where there is no more place to go. Just hanging over the water. The power of water is just amazing. So strong. Lifesaving and lethal. I can't describe the rush of sound.


















We headed back down and followed the path to the ruins. Such a beautiful and peaceful site. I am so amazed by the architecture and structure. With nothing but rocks that are fit perfectly into place, the walls were probably 3-feet thick. There were obviously surrounding out-buildings and paths to cleared gardens. Large mounds that looked like collapsed buildings or large burial sites.  It truly did feel sacred.

 After our silent thanks, we headed back out to the road and homeward bound.

 

Hike, Kayak, Snorkel, Kayak

While in Hawaii, we like to live like Kama'aina, but we also like to take one tour. Sometimes it's just nice to be guided. I did a Hike and Bike with Bike Hawaii on my first trip and really enjoyed it.

This was my bike tour in 2011

It's off the beaten path a bit. Small groups. Personalized attention. The Musician wanted to kayak, so we found a Hike, Kayak and Snorkel tour with Bike Hawaii and put it on the schedule.

Pick up was scheduled exactly where I had pick-up before ... adjacent to the Ala Moana hotel. Pick up is available at most of the downtown and Waikiki hotels, but this one has adjacent free parking. Several other groups for other tours were waiting here also. We were met by our guide. I have to admit, I can't remember his name ... We will call him Jake? Jeremy? It has been awhile and I'm late with blogging. He has been with the company for many years. We talked about my previous tour and the same guides are still with the company and have been for a long time as well. That tells me a lot about the company. They like each other. They like their boss. They like their jobs. But, seriously ... if you got paid to hike and bike and kayak and snorkel in Hawaii, who wouldn't like their jobs? There was supposedly another couple scheduled for the tour, but no one was there. "Jake" called the hotel and the couple had no idea they had reservations. Right name, though. Strange. Must have been booked by a tour company and they were unaware and not interested in trying to rush it at the last minute. So ... we got a private tour for the day!!! YEA!!! Jake astutely noticed that we had requested no cheese and no mayo on our lunch, so he asked about meat ... Oddly, our vegetarian request with no cheese and no mayo was misinterpreted ... we got turkey, without cheese, sandwiches. We had packed snacks anyway, but we made a detour to a grocer and Jake picked up vegetarian sandwiches for us.

We drove across the island to our first stop at Kualoa ranch for our very short hike. It was maybe 3/4 mile round trip. At the top we had amazing views of Mokoli'i (Chinaman's Hat) in the ocean and the Kualoa Mountains. They are filming Jurassic Park 3 and we saw the remnants of some scaffolding set up for some of the scenes.  It was actually a pretty cloudy day, but that made it cool and gave a different relaxing feel to the scenery.

Quick change at the gift shop and across the street where "Jake" was prepping the kayaks. The Musician and I decided to go in a tandem. We headed out towards Chinaman's Hat ... our next stop. It was low tide and the water was clear. Really easy to see the bottom. We wanted to see Honu, but today wasn't the day. The skies became a little grayer, but that meant the sun wasn't beating down on us. The waves weren't too bad and the water wasn't rough. Maybe a 30-45 minute kayak and it wasn't exhausting, but it wasn't just lying back and resting either.
 
Once on Chinaman's Hat, we had a chance to don our snorkel gear. It was very shallow and the fish were small and shy. As shallow as it was, there wasn't a lot of reason to don our fins. We snorkeled for maybe 30 minutes and "Jake" stayed on shore as a spotter ... just in case. The sea slugs were kind of cool, but so was the water (notice my spin on words?). When we had seen enough, we got out and enjoyed the tiny rocky beach while enjoying our lunch and the view of Oahu.

 After a brief rest, "Jake" took us on a brief walk to the back side of Chinaman's Hat. It's much rougher on the open side and would have been hard for me to kayak there and no way would I snorkel there. But, after climbing across rocks to get around ... another beach and a hidden sea cave. It felt magical. Would be a great place for a romantic date. If we ever move to Oahu, this may become a good picnic spot.

Look what millenia of waves on lava does

 We also were fortunate enough to witness the roosting grounds (and a few chicks) of the Wedge-Tailed Shearwater. The Island is a protected sanctuary for these very rare birds. I always find moments like this magical.

Back to our kayaks. A group of young daredevils waded across from Oahu (yes, it was that shallow) and were planning to climb to the top of the hat. Apparently, the walk from Oahu to Mokoli'i is a "road" of crushed lava rock ... it was once a bridge, but after millenia of crashing waves, the bridge collapsed and the rock has been pounded into smaller rocks over the years. Not smooth, though ... sharp. We watched a bit and I was surprised at how quickly (maybe 5-10 minutes) it took them (in flip flops and bikinis) to get almost to the top. Apparently, to get to the peak, you have to do a little work with a rope, but that might be something I want to do one day.

 Back to the kayaks and another 45-minute paddle. Tide was coming in, so it was pretty easy. It started to sprinkle and that was OK by me. Just added to the adventure. Not every day in Hawaii can be filled with sunshine. Ride back to the care, dinner, and then home for a good night's rest.  I would do another tour with Bike Hawaii. I wasn't disappointed and really enjoyed the tour. If you were looking for more hike ... then take one of their biking tours. If you want more snorkel, they have those too. The focus of this tour was the Kayak and the hike and snorkel were added bonuses.