Hiking in Hawaii 3/18/06 - 3/24/06

[CrazyDave]

These 2 friends of mine (Nimmi & Ren) have been asking me to come out to Hawaii and visit them. Both of them are Hikers and said, Hawaii has some great area's to Hike. So I thought why not, they said, I can stay at their place if I come. Sounds like a good opportunity to me; so I went.
I decided ahead of time that I'd do one really big Hike while I'm there. Mauna Kea 13,796 FT "Sea to Summit" in a day. It's about a 20-25 mile Hike - depending on where you start. I packed everything I would need to do this Hike. Including the cold weather gear, because Mauna Kea has snow on top. But, when I got there and told Nimmi my plans for a day Hike. She said, that's a Crazy idea. I've never heard of anyone doing that. We're not going to spot you because, if something goes wrong we will feel guilty. On top of that, the Rangers had the summit closed due to bad conditions. So, I didn't get an opportunity to do this Hike. But, when I looked at where the beach was and where the summit is. I can see that it was a Hike that I would have done just fine with. It didn't look very hard at all.
It was great to see my friends again after a year of not seeing them. While there I Hiked all over; "Volcano National Park" I was quite amazed by the size of the Craters, and the number of them. I took lots of great pictures. I also spent a day at South Point, did a little 6 mile Hike along shore. South Point is the Southern most peice of US Soil. The winds here are always very strong. Averaged about 45 MPH when I was there. Checked out the Green Sand Beach during my Hike, got some good pictures of it. But the place I did the most Hiking was in the Kohala Mountains and Kohala Forest. This area is the Northern part of the Island, and it's beautiful. All of the Hikes were easy day Hikes. Came back with some beautiful photo's to share.

Click the link to check out the Photo's:
http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=549112103&security=NGRsKZ

 

[audrey]

Thanks for the pics. Too many people stick close to home and never experience the exotic landscapes that are so astounding and inspiring.

14,000 feet of vertical in a day? And the descent, oy!!

 

[chomp]

Awesome shots.. now I have ANOTHER thing to add to my list.

 

[DougPaul]

I was on the Big Island for about a week in 92. Looks like we did similar things--recognized a number of your pictures. Neat place.

Doug

 

[CrazyDave]

Doug - I tried to do as much as I could for the short amount of time I was there. I found the Kohala Forest area to be really beautiful.

 

[DougPaul]

Doug - I tried to do as much as I could for the short amount of time I was there. I found the Kohala Forest area to be really beautiful.

We didn't go down in that area. (I was with short walkers--ex-hikers.) Did look in from the jumping off spot... (Your pics 26--29.)

We did drive down into Waipio Valley. Perhaps similar except less wild.

Lots of neat things on the Island. Hiked across Kilauea Iki (crater) and Kilauea Crater to Halemaumau and then N across the crater and up to Volcano House. Basically we worked our way around the island visiting the natural areas of interest.

Quite a contrast between the NE and SW sides of the island!

Doug

 

[bunchberry]

Thanks for sharing, Dave, and great photos. Very cool Lava Trees. I love hiking in Hawaii, though when I was there in 2003 we didn't have too much time to explore Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Our favorite hike was on Kauai, on the Na Pali coast. I can't wait to get back there someday!

-katie

 

[Jay H]

Nice photos, I've never been to the big island, but like Buncberry, I've backpacked the 11 mile Kalalau trail in Kauai. In fact, I ran into a sherpa whose job was to hike out gear/food to people camping at the beach (what a job!) and gave a ride to a person who was somewhat homesteading back in the woods off the grid back there..

I think you could shoot a whole roll of film of the flowers and flora there.

Jay

 

[una_dogger]

Great trip report and awesome photos!

11 mile Kalalau trail in Kauai. Jay

Kauai backpacking also on my list; isn't there a circuit hike that extends 2/3 the circumference of the island??

S

 

[CrazyDave]

I only had a week there. So stayed on the big Island the whole time. We didn't go down into Waipi'o Bay. My friend that I was visiting said, she once tried to Hike from Pololu` Valley to Waipi'o Bay. She eventually ran out of Trails, and got into brush to thick to bushwack. But she (Nimmi) said that she wants to make another attempt at it some day. The North side of the Island is indeed completely different that the South. The North is very lush, while the South has had many lava flows in the not so distant past. Exploring Kauai sounds like fun, if I ever make it back there. Kauai will be on my list.