Let's Go Hiking

Man do I miss home. NYC has been raining buckets for most of this Labor Day weekend.

As I do plan on going back home next year, my goal is to set out on some new hiking trails. I usually trek along the Pearl City "easy" foot paths, or tree covered groves of the Tantalus area. As the Sacred Falls area is no longer passable (it was one of my favorites), I wondered if you guys recommended any "intermediate" trails.

Hm, maybe we could plan a Hawaii Stories hiking trip. Whadayathink? Anyone up for it?

Comments

If you plan on going to the Diamond Head trail count me in.

I'm with Helen. :) I'm a bit of a wimp. I used to be a veritable mountain lion, even taking on hikes I couldn't handle (a friend and I very nearly had to be rescued off Wa`ahila Ridge). Now, I think the four-mile Aiea Loop Trail would be about the extent of my ambition.

One gets to a point, in his or her hiking experience, where only the killer hikes are interesting or rewarding. And let's be honest: Nobody ever enjoys the killer hikes while one is actually doing the hiking. It's always, "I swear I'll never do this again, if I get down off this mountain alive!" And then, "Whew! What an experience that was! I can't wait to tell my friends about it, as soon as the nurses take this I.V. out of my arm!"

Then, as the tales grow more exciting with each retelling, one forgets about the vow one made, standing up on the ridge, gripping for dear life to the sheer basalt face of a mountain, wondering if the rescue helicopters will see the idiot clinging, insect-like, to the rock wall.

So one does it again.

Well, the last time I did it again, I was lying face-down on this crumbly, gravelly slope, about 40 degrees of incline, with my arms wrapped around a rock when gravel, dirt, and grapefruit-sized rocks bounced down on me, around me, and past me. Someone above was climbing down, but didn't know I was climbing up. "If you stop trying to bury me in this avalanche," I yelled to the unseen hiker above me, "I swear I'll never hike again!"

I had already dropped ten feet into a pool of water when a foothold had broken loose while I was on it, so the promise had been taking shape in my mind already. The people hiking down never heard me until they were practically on top of me, when they said, "Oops. Didn't know you were down here. Sorry."

What the heck, I said to myself. You didn't honor your part of the deal I had proposed, but I was going to honor mine, and never hike again.

So I didn't, until about seven years later. I did an easy hike in Papakolea, up near Punchbowl, through a forest of bamboo that reached fifty or sixty feet up into the sky. It was a beautiful, non-strenuous hike, and I loved it. And not once did I have to promise myself that I was never going to do this again.

I really wish there was a point to what I just typed, but I can't think of one.

Oops. Forgot to recommend a hike. The Manana Trail, which begins at the end of Komo Mai Drive in Pacific Palisades, is a nice, intermediate-level hike. There are a few trails up there, but one of them leads to Manana Stream. Keep an eye out for pig-hunters and their dogs.

I admit it, I'm wimp too when it comes to hiking. I like the trails where the trees don't attack me or I don't need to use my hands to advance myself on the trail.

One word: Makapu`u. (Yes, I made it up to the lighthouse, and if I hadn't wussed out that day I would've even gone further and rock-climbed all the way to the beach.)

Two more words: Manoa Falls. (Tip: Wear sturdy mud-proof sandals and carry a water bottle.)

Those are the two trails I've ever hiked in all the years I've lived here. Whether or not this makes me look wimpy is insignificant - all I know is that I enjoyed every single minute that I've hiked them.

Judging from what I've read here, though, Tantalus and Diamond Head would be a piece of cake...

The hard parts to the Diamond Head trail is climbing the 99 steps, going through the dark staircase and a slight go on your tummy to go outside.

Other than that it's quite an enjoyable walk.

Two more words: Manoa Falls. (Tip: Wear sturdy mud-proof sandals and carry a water bottle.)

And plenty of insect repellent!

Yes, let's! While we're at it, anyone want to form a kind of hiking club, say once a month we go someplace not too challenging?

I'm looking for someone to come along with me to Maunawili Falls- the trail starts just down my street, and I've yet to go.

How long is the hike? In any event it might be a while for me before I can walk and work up a sweat.

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