Kuli'ou'ou Ridge Trail

This hike came unexpectedly with my mom knocking on the door of my room telling me my brother was leaving to go hiking with his friends and a few of our cousins. I thought to myself, is he serious?! He didn't even care to invite me! With that aside, I quickly packed up a few necessities and we were on our way. I live in the middle of the island and the hike was on the south side of the island. With picking up a few cousins and waiting for a couple of people, we didn't start the hike until around 10:30. The hike was fairly easy, with a few tough spots.

There were shortcuts everywhere. Although not advised, we took a few.

At the halfway point, a green shack is conveniently located for you to rest up for the rest of the hike. It seems like a nice place to camp as well. I didn't quite get a view of the shack, just the view from the table.

Hawaii is known for it's different climates. The area we were in would be considered the desert side of the island, whereas I live in a more year-round rainy area. At the beginning of the hike, the view is filled with a lot of beach trees, but as you venture further up the mountain, you come in contact with a lot of evergreens.

We finally reached the top, and the view was a spectacular 360.

We did the hike mainly for my cousin who came from England (far left), my cousin from the Philippines (red), and my cousin who'll be leaving to Nebraska for college on Monday (white tank).

The trek down was a lot easier than it was up. We came to a steep hill that was pretty challenging to get down from. Me and my cousin took a simple route and slid down. I slid down on my feet whereas my cousin took his butt down.

Afterward, we headed down to Alan Davis beach in Makapu'u near the lighthouse.

A log is conveniently placed for you to jump off of and dive into the clear water.

The location is also home to Hawaii's volcano god, Pele, and her 'chair'.

By the time we finished all of the above it was about 4:00 and we were all very hungry. We headed to "Da Kitchen" for an unbelievable meal that is mentioned in the next post...

The Stairmaster

I decided to take a break from coding my tumblr and trying to come up with something for this blog and decided to share some photos from my hike at Koko Head in Hawaii (a.k.a. The Stairmaster).

We left around 7am, and the drive there took about 30 minutes. When we got there, it took about 10 minutes to get to the start of the hike, and so it begins -

On our way here, the hike looked intimidating, standing at the foot of the peak and I got nervous.

This is the bridge. The drop was about 15-20 feet above the ground.

It also marked the halfway point. (Another trail was available for people afraid of heights)

After the bridge (the final third of the hike) the trail becomes more vertical. Not fun.

And we made it! A full 1,048 steps!

If you look closely, you can see a lizard.

The beautiful view from a ledge I was sitting on. The crater is down below.

The four of us, I at the top left.

A view from the other side. It was all worth it.

And me. The sun was in my eyes, and I didn't know what else to do, hence the peace sign.

The ONLY flower on the hike, hidden behind a wall.

Some art work...

I'm not too sure about the message.

We did it, finally! We hiked the Koko Head Crater (no, not from a meteor, but from an extinct volcano). It took us about 40 minutes, which included breaks for people to catch up. When we reached the top, I sat down on a ledge facing the crater and replenished my body with some food and water. It was pretty windy being up so high (obviously), but I didn't mind.

The trail was originally used to transport military supplies during World War II using a cable car. There were a few military bunkers and other structures left over from the war, which was pretty fun to take pictures of. At the top, on a clear day (like the day we did it), you can see two other islands, Molokai, and Maui.

We stayed at the peak for about an hour before heading down. Going down was a workout, but worth it. We reached the bottom, but still had an extremely steep hill to go through to get to the parking. There was an option to go around, but we didn't take it. And to my demise, I tried running down, and I either tripped, or my knees gave out, and I took a full face plant onto the ground. I think I skidded about 5 feet before I stopped. It had wind knocked out of me, and I couldn't breathe for about 30 seconds. It was a good thing that there was a paramedic there to make sure I didn't break anything like my ribs and I was able to walk. My shoulder got it bad with a a scrape about 2 inches in diameter. Ouch. It's healing, but with the scabbing, it's kind of hard to move my arm around.

After the hike, we went to the closest town center to get some first aid and use the bathroom, then headed to the mall. I got a few things that I'll post about later, then ate at Genki Sushi. It was a great day. And although I've been suffering from stiff/sore legs, and a large scrape on my shoulder, it was worth it.

This was one of my longer posts, and I hope there are less of them in the future, but to end it - if you live on the island, or take a trip down here for a vacation, I definitely recommend it. However, if you're clumsy like me, make sure to take the longer route when heading to/from the trail head.