Kealia Trail - March 19th, 2011

Kealia trail

Kealia "salt encrustation"

So, I was kind of annoyed, we had planned to go hiking, and it was all nasty raining outside on our side of the island, I then looked up the forecast to the west of us, and it was sunny, YAY, good hiking day! Well, of course, I have to work every WEEKEND! It makes it hard to spend time with Matt, so if anything is going to get done, it will require me to do something after working, and being up at 3:30, no bueno. I am totally tired from work, but I can usually deal with it. Anyway, I got off of work at 10:30, got home, threw some beach clothes and workout clothes on, and decided this hike would be ok to not wear my boots, that went over terribly! Anyway, about 40 minutes later we end up on the western point of the island at a place called Dillingham Airfield.

View from the middle of the mountain

We suited up, and started out on the hike, knowing this hike is 7 miles round trip, I was worried that I was going to be exhausted, from the lack of sleep, food, and motivation, well it sort of was true, but I did ok I guess! To start this trail, we were on a paved road, until we reached a chain link fence, and proceeded on a well marked trail, I was worried with the amount of flies, I HATE FLIES, but they disappeared quickly, the trail was well maintained for the most part, a downed tree was the only real problem, besides all the rocks from the mountain obviously, they weren't kidding when they said rocks fall often. On this trail there are 19 switchbacks, which  is basically just a zig zag pattern going up the mountain, you climb an elevation of about 1,000 feet, some parts were slippery, some were a little steep, but the views from the climb up were gorgeous, you see anything from sky divers, parasailors, to glider planes, alone with spectacular views of the north shore!

We made it through the 19 switchbacks, and still had about another 1,000 feet in elevation to climb, we didn't look up the trail as well as we should of because we definitely took the wrong turn and ended up in some weird hunting area, we then headed back up and got back on the right track, where it then started raining pretty decent on us, which was weird because it was only raining in one small area, we then made our way down a 4x4 trail and also is a hunting trail, it was kind of boring during this part, in the end it was nothing but a dirt road that climbed up the mountain, and that thing was STEEP, it wasn't extremely terrible, but it worked up a good sweat, and pretty much made my calves and feet burn like crazy! We made it to the end of the trail where it did continue on, but we opted to make it our turn around point, there were some nice views of the Waianae mountain range, similar views to the ones we saw when we did a short little hike on Schofield Barracks, up the kolekole pass, but none the less the views were gorgeous. I love having clear hiking days, so glad summer is near, and the rain should be less, allowing for better views, I definitely want to do the Haiku Stairs again in hopes for a better view!

Crazy rocks

We then started our way back down, and let me tell you, I think I would rather go up than down, especially since it was hard to judge how slippery parts were, and once ya started moving there was no stopping, and my shoes were not cooperating in the least, my toes kept jamming into the front of the shoes, causing HUGE amounts of pain, and the switch backs on the way down sucked, due to the fact that my shoes weren't made for traction, I made my way down like the nervous nancy that I am, pretty sure Matt was getting annoyed at me, but what can ya do, I'd rather not fly off the end of the mountain on a normal day! This was a good work out hike most definitely, and pretty sure I'll do it again, if it's not to hot, for there is NO shade from the sun on this hike!

Elevation: 2000 feet
Distance: 7 miles round trip
Difficulty: Intermediate
Calorie Burn: 1900!!! Insane!!

Directions: Dillingham Airfield

Koko Head - Waimea Falls - Diamond Head (Tourist hikes)

So, not that I'm not a tourist half the time when it comes to knowing culture and ways of life in Hawaii, but I guess I am not due to the fact that I live and work here, granted in many ways I most definitely am a tourist in my naive ways of culture and nature, although I am learning! Just out of boredom of not blogging about hikes in so long, again due to work, rain, and my parents visiting for two weeks, hiking again has been hard to come by, I am blogging these tourist hikes.

Koko Head - Located on the southeastern side of Oahu, in Hawaii Kai, this is definitely a lung buster/leg killer/brutal workout! I think it's worth it, most people would probably beg to differ, just because it is so strenuous, and that it is, it definitely takes it out of you going up, and takes a large amount of patients going down, these are old railroad track ties, the "steps" are actually part of an abandoned railroad track that was once used by the military to transport supplies to a lookout shelter at the top, So there are most definitely not any handrails, which would be nice if there were! I believe there are about 1500 steps on this fantastic hike, which are marked on the railroad tracks going up. It's so awesome that the steps are so uneven and the holes dug in the dirt, everything is SO uneven, if you are afraid of heights, this is not for you, not to mention the awesome bridge you have to cross, that always seems to be SWARMING with bees, I literally almost started sprinting down the bridge which would of ended very terribly for me, and maybe a couple other people! Anyway to rap this up, the hike is pretty hard, the views from the top are gorgeous, it is usually a pretty busy place, speaking of when we were there this guy went up like 5 times!! It gets better, on the way down he'd run down it backwards!

Diamond Head Crater - By far the most popular tourist hike on the island, diamond head was built as a part of the oahu coast defense system, after being formed by various eruptions of the ko'olau volacano, and   according to wikipedia (aka my bff),  Diamond Head is estimated to be about 150,000 years old and the volcano being extinct for just aslong. At 1.5 miles round trip, the common person would take about 1 1/2 hours about, I don't know the first time I did this hike, the first hike we did when we got to the island, I was struggling, wow I was so out of shape, this time when I did it with my parents who were bound and determined to do this hike, which I did have doubts about, since we managed to go right when the noon sun was at it's hottest! This last time I was running it, my mom on the other hand, was about to throw herself over the edge I believe, LOL, and my step dad, well he managed to hold his own for the most part! All in all iw as super proud of them, anyway, a bit about the hike, there are about 200 stairs, and a lot of unpaved, uneven, rocky switch backs going up to the top, easily room to bust an ankle if you aren't paying attention! At the top you reach an old coastal artillery observation platform built in the 1900's, and above that is more viewing areas of Waikiki, Honolulu, and of course the Pacific Ocean. A fun family hike i'd say.

Waimea Falls - So we visited here, when my parents were visiting also, mom wanted to see a waterfall, and I wanted to show her one that wasn't going to kill her getting to! This tourist attraction is nice, minus the amount you have to pay to get in! $8 for us military each, and my parents had to pay $13 dollars to get it, kind of steep, but at least the parking was free. So, we stopped here before we were going to the Polynesian Culture Center Luau, and it was raining, gladly it stopped, this area also has a botanical garden which was pretty neat, never been to one yet since getting on the island. Although, I'm not a big flower person, but whatever. The paved trail is about 1.5 miles round trip, PAVED trail, it's excellent when this happens, I hate getting dirty. Nothing to really blog about this hike, it's easy, family oriented, pretty falls at the end, where they offer a lifeguard and life jackets if you aren't a good swimmer.