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Ahuimanu Trail

Ahuimanu Trail | Hamama Falls | February 2019

This is the story of two trails: One legal, one illegal. We set out on a weekend morning with all the best intentions: the illegal trail was more enticing, but we were going to stick to our moral high ground and hike the legal trail. It wasn’t going to be scenic, but at least we could feel good about ourselves… and that’s what matters, right?

We drove to Kaneohe, a little ways North of the Valley of the Temples, and back into a residential area to the trailhead for Ahuimanu Trail. Google Maps directed us to the back of the neighborhood and we spotted a small gap in the trees with a shrine next to it. We parked on the side of the road and made our way to the trail. When we had a better look at the shrine, we realized it was for a well known hiking enthusiast from Oahu who died tragically on this trail last year – Freddie Pratricio, aka Spiderman. The trail itself isn’t dangerous at all, he was repelling the waterfall at the end.

We started the trail with low expectations, just eager to hike a new trail and check another one off the list. This trail is best known for being in an area that used to grow taro. There are plaques placed along the path sharing the history of the area and all about taro, however there is no longer any taro to be found — not that we saw at least, and Curtis is always looking out for it. (We’ve found it once before and tried potting it and growing it on our own…it may not have resulted in anything but it’s all about the experience, right?)

Right from the start, the trail was muddy. There were mosquitos everywhere. We expected that, it had rained a lot that week. However, the trail itself wasn’t the easiest to follow, and there were so many fallen trees lying across the path. We often had to stop and make sure we were on the right path. We baptized our feet into so many mud puddles that were just a little deeper than they appeared. Finally, we stopped to face the facts: This wasn’t a good day to hike this trail, and we simply weren’t enjoying any part of it. Why should we continue? Maybe someday we’ll return…but honestly I’d rather re-hike any number of trails we’ve done before than come back to this. Curtis said he thought it could have more potential if we just followed the creek back, but that didn’t appeal to me today.

Back at the car, we decided to “drive by” the illegal hike and get an idea of what it looked like…how illegal it really was. As the crow flies, it’s only 3 miles North of the first trail, but begins at the end of a completely different neighborhood, a 20 minute drive away. We drove to the end of the cul-de-sac where the trail to Hamama Falls begins. Even from a quarter-mile away, there were cars lined up on the side of the road all the way up to the trailhead — as opposed to us being the only ones on the legal trail. We reached the end of the street, and there was a giant fence blocking the trail, which is actually a service road that leads to a water plant facility. There were plenty of “Government Property, No Trespassing” signs, and yet a well-worn trail that went off to the side of the fence where it was clear that many had used to get around the obstacle.

We didn’t want to do it, we didn’t want to break the law and we definitely didn’t want to be caught and fined. However, curiosity got the best of us, and we gave into temptation. We have now joined the multitudes of hikers on Oahu who have hiked a blatantly illegal trail. We have set a bad example and you should never take our advice or follow our lead. Worst of all…we enjoyed it.

First, this just made such a good trail for the day. We walked along the paved road, and our feet stayed dry and out of the mud. We had views of the Ko’olau Mountains, beautiful flora, and a babbling brook. We saw plenty of people, but most were heading in the opposite direction. We picked up trash along the way just to clear our conscious.

After about a mile, the service road ends and the last mile to the falls is along a dirt path. Here’s the real kicker: this dirt path to the falls was one of the best maintained trails we’ve hiked on this island. Sure it was a little muddy and slick in places, but any trail would be after all the rain we’ve had. We strolled up the path, which became steeper, but led to a great reward: Hamama Falls, one of the best waterfalls we’ve seen on the island (Maka’ua Fall remains Curtis’ favorite).

This led us to a discussion of the classification of trails on Oahu:

Official Trails: Well maintained and established trails usually designed for large numbers of tourists, almost to the point that some might not even consider them trails. Makapu’u and Diamond head are probably the most notable on the island.
Sanctioned Hikes: Hikes that are legal and have some active maintenance authority. Most of the trails that we’ve hiked on the mainland would fall under this category, but here on Oahu, probably only half the trails do; and oftentimes only parts of the trails are. Notable examples are Kaena Point, the Aiea Loop, and Kuli’ou’ou.
Unofficial Hikes: Unmaintained hikes with no legality status. Sometimes, these are sanctioned hikes that just haven’t been maintained in a while. Other times these are the trails at the end of other trails; bushwhacks that have become fairly established. Aiea Ridge, Pupu Kea, and most all of the pillbox hikes fall under this category
Unsanctioned Hikes: Hikes that are officially illegal, but which are loosely enforced. Maybe we made this category to ease our conscience. Crouching Lion, Lulumahu Falls, and this hike are but some examples
Illegal Hikes: Don’t do these hikes. They are illegal…for a reason. Maybe people die on these trails, maybe it’s trespassing. Regardless, the rules are enforced here, often with severe consequences. Sacred Falls and Staircase to Heaven are easily the most recognizable of this category.

All went well until we arrived back at the beginning of the trail and saw 2 police cars. This is it, I thought…I wanted to hide, but Curtis encouraged me to come out so we could own up to our felony together. However, we walked right past the cars and nothing happened. Somehow, we walked away free. Definitely don’t take that as encouragement to go do this hike…hike at your own discretion, I’m not bailing you out if you get caught. In all seriousness, I have no idea if people get fined or exactly how illegal this trail actually is. My suspicion is that the neighborhood/board of water supply don’t want this to become the next Manoa, Lulumahu, or Maunawili Falls, which have crowds of people every day. Of course, we saw that the trail already gets plenty of traffic as it is, but maybe they are trying to avoid becoming a stop on a tour bus route. Whatever the reason, it’s still an illegal trail, and while we enjoyed our hike we won’t be returning. We’ve pushed our luck already as it is! Still, the question remains: Why can’t legal hikes on the island be as well maintained as this illegal one?

January 2019

The Happenings of January 2019

New Year’s Eve/Day has always been my favorite holiday. I love everything about it — reminiscing over the past year, wondering where we’ll be a year from now, and dreaming up goals and plans for the coming months. While the goals may or may not be accomplished, a new year always brings about fresh motivation into even the routine and ordinary aspects of my life, and I thrive on that for the first few weeks of the year.

However, this year was different. December 31 came, I watched the clock tick over into 2019, and I didn’t feel anything. Our Year in Review posts are always my favorite to write, but I procrastinated 2018’s for so long. I can’t say why, I think it was just a mixture of a lot of things. I was tired and discouraged after a challenging year. I was homesick, missing out on the holidays with family yet again. I was already looking ahead at 2019, and slightly dreading what it would bring. And I was alone, as Curtis had to work overnight that night. All that to say, it just felt like another day, and I was disappointed that the ‘new year high’ didn’t hit me as it always does.

As the month rolled on, I’d say my perspective improved and I’m now a bit more optimistic. I set goals for myself that I’m actually interested in and know I’d enjoy doing, rather than writing down vague ideas I know I won’t accomplish. My times in the Word lately have me reading passages I hadn’t meditated on in a long time, and have encouraged me to keep pressing on with an eternal mindset. We can’t change our situation right now, but I can change my outlook and know that I’m right where God wants me. I feel like I say that a lot, but it’s honestly something I need to remind myself of every day.

January seemed to go by quickly for us this year, which is probably due to Curtis working long hours every day. I’m not complaining, it certainly topped January last year when he was gone for 3 weeks. Things are changing and progressing for him at work and he has been doing very well with the various tests and drills that have been going on. I’m still living in denial that he could ever possibly leave again, which is fine, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Anyway, here’s a run down of what we did, which is the real reason why I’m writing this post!

We binged all of “Series of Unfortunate Events” on Netflix — of course we’ve watched each season as it came out, but felt it necessary to rewatch the first 2 seasons to prolong the magic. We loved this series and especially enjoyed the choice of actors for each character.
We went to the beach and nearby park many times and hiked Ka’iwa Ridge again…I’ve lost track of how many times we’ve been there.
We set out one weekend morning to hike a ridge in the Southern Ko’olaus, and ended up striking out at not one, not two, but three different hikes. They were either too crowded or illegal. We ended up getting Leonard’s Malsadas to make ourselves feel better about our situation, and then returned to Koko Crater Botanical Garden, one of our favorite places on the island.
We participated in community day for PokemonGo, playing at Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden. Some days that is our main motivation for getting out of the house and doing something, and I’m not ashamed of that.
We returned to the Manoa Cliffs Trail in Mount Tantalus area, this time bringing Charlotte along for a rainy day hike. She loved the trail, and it reminded us of how well she used to hike when we lived on the mainland. She gets so focused and determined when on the trail, compared to when we’re taking her for walks and she has to stop and sniff everything and tries to drag us around. We wish she could do more with us here!
We visited the Honolulu Art Museum on their free day, the third Sunday of every month, and spent several hours enjoying the pieces they have on display.
We hiked Aiea Ridge, which you can read about here!

And just like that, the first month of 2019 is gone. Time seems to pass quickly here, and right now I’m thankful for that. This month I’m choosing to focus on the things that I really love about this stage in life, and trying to remember to delight myself in the Lord on a daily basis.

Aiea Ridge Trail

Hiking the Aiea Ridge Trail to the Aiea Summit | January 2019

Back in our first month of living on Oahu, we hiked the Aiea Loop Trail and enjoyed the easy walk through the woods, filled vegetation that was then unfamiliar to us. About halfway through the loop, we veered off on a side trail that took us to a view of the H3 from high above. The side trail continued, much more narrow than the wide and well maintained loop trail, and we learned later that it continued all the way up to the Ko’olau Summit. We noted it as a possible hike for when we were more familiar with Ko’olau ridge trails.

Since then we’ve completed many ridges, mostly focusing on the Southern Ko’olaus. The trails on the Southern ridges are shorter, and the further North you go the longer the trails are. The only ridge North of H3 that we had started hiking was Manana Ridge, but we were just doing that for fun and had no intentions of going all the way to the summit. Over time, we sort of lost interest in pursuing those longer hikes. It seemed like a lot of effort to reach the Ko’olau summit when we could get there much easier on one of the shorter trails.

Our lack of enthusiasm to take on new hikes led me to make one of my goals for 2019 to “Hike one new Ko’olau Ridge.” That’s right, ONE. I assumed it’d be months before we felt like doing a new one. And yet, here we are…it was the last weekend of January, and we spontaneously decided to go for it — even without proper hiking boots. We really wanted to go for a ‘real hike’, something longer than 5 miles, and out of all possible contenders Aiea was the shortest drive to and the shortest hike at 9 miles.

The H3 Tunnels

We drove to the state park in Aiea and started at the higher trailhead for the Aiea Loop Trail. We started off on the easy trail, playing PokemonGo as we went and ignoring the grey skies above us. We agreed that it was perfectly fine if we weren’t able to hike the whole thing, we were just out here because we wanted a ‘real hike’ on a less popular trail.

When we came to the ridge trail, we left the loop behind and began confidently on the narrow path. We had seen many hikers and joggers on the loop, but we were all alone for the entirety of the ridge hike. I’m pretty sure this is the only time we have been all alone. In comparison to other ridges, it definitely wasn’t as overgrown as Lanipo ridge, and it was honestly one of the more pristine trails we’ve seen. There were very little signs of erosion, and plenty of healthy o’hia trees.

Since this trail parallels the interstate, we were almost constantly hearing noise from the traffic throughout the hike. This definitely isn’t a peaceful, nature-sounds only type of hike, but we still enjoyed seeing the H3 from different angles. Personally, I think the interstate is better looking than the sprawling neighborhoods that fill many of the Southern Ko’olau valleys. And when facing North, all we could see was wild, uninhabited land. Somewhere up there are the Waimano and Manana Ridge trails…ones that aren’t on our ‘must do’ list, but after enjoying the Aiea trail, we may consider them another day.

I was concerned about hiking in tennis shoes, ones that don’t have any traction, but surprisingly they held up well. The week had been pretty dry though, if it had rained recently it could have been another story. That being said, I did take my time when hiking downhill.

Konahuanui is the tallest peak in the center of this picture; the tower is on the summit of Moanalua Middle Ridge

Usually when hiking new trails, my mind is constantly thinking about the return trip — how will all this feel coming back? If I’m not comfortable with a section of trail, maybe I shouldn’t continue. However, today I was taking it all one step at a time, and truly living in the moment. The result was that the entire way up, I was enthusiastic about our progress and anxious to go farther and see more. The way back wasn’t too bad either — I had just forgotten how long the trail was and we were both exhausted by the time we reached the end.

After 3.5 miles of ridge hiking, we came to a big open grassy area where we stopped for a short break. Up until that point, the trail had been easy — a few rope sections, but nothing that made me uncomfortable. After this part, however, the trail became noticeably more difficult. I would honestly consider doing this hike again, and just hiking up to this point for the sake of an easy, quiet hike. However, today we decided to continue. We were only a mile from the Ko’olau summit, which was somehow completely clear despite the sky above being overcast, and it seemed silly to turn back when we were so close.

The final stretch of trail before the true summit

The trail from here to the next false summit was more narrow, muddy, and steep, and the vegetation was shorter which made me feel even more exposed. We took it easy, making slow but continual process to the next peak.

Facing North with the Koloa Mountain range and Chinaman’s Hat off the shore

I think I’ll remember Aiea Ridge best for its false summits. We finally reached what looked to be the end, but it turned out that we were still .2 miles from the true Ko’olau summit. That doesn’t sound like much, but being able to see the narrow and steep ridge before us made it seem daunting. We took a short break before pressing on to the end. Even from the false summit, we were already enjoying some of the best views we’ve had of the Northern Ko’olau Mountains, as well as the Koloa Ridge.

Kaneohe and the Kaneohe Bay along with the sandbar – the hill in the center of the picture is Pu’u Ma’eli’eli

The true Aiea Summit was marked by a green sign with the words “AIEA SUMMIT” carved into it. Curtis found a geocache and we took in the beauty of the Ko’olaus and Kaneohe Bay below us. We were even able to see all of Konahuanui to the South. Not only that, but the sun broke through the clouds, making the ocean bright blue contrasting the white sand bar in the bay. Unfortunately the valley behind us was filled with vog, otherwise we might have been able to make out the North shore as well. We were still able to see all of Ka’ala and the rest of the Waianae Mountains, and had a great view of Pearl Harbor and Ford Island. So many new and beautiful views that we didn’t know we were missing!

Beginning the long trek down Aiea Ridge

We were about to leave, when in a moment of silence we heard what sounded like a gong. We stood there confused for a moment, when I remembered that we had seen a large gong at the Byodo-In Temple last month. We walked around for a closer view of Kaneohe right below us, and sure enough, we saw the back side of the temple. How cool that a month after visiting, we were able to climb to the top of those picturesque mountains we enjoyed seeing behind the temple?!

The Waianae Mountains across the vog filled valley

Finally, we began to make our way down. As I mentioned before, it was long and exhausting, but we made slow and steady progress along the steep ridge and picked up the pace as the trail grew wider after the first false summit. We arrived back at our car after 7 ½ hours of hiking (counting breaks). Curtis’ phone managed to stay alive that entire time, so we have our complete trail recording here. Despite feeling exhausted and sore all over, we agreed that we were so glad we did this, and it gave us a more positive outlook on hiking the Ko’olau Ridges. Maybe we’ll find our way up another new one someday…but hey, at least for now I can say I’ve already completed one of my goals for 2019!

• • • • •

When trying to decide on a ridge, we had considered Moanualua Middle Ridge, which is the back way up to the popular Stairway to Heaven hike. While the views of the H3 tunnels from the Windward side, the metal staircase, and views of the Southern Ko’olaus are tempting, we just couldn’t justify it. I have heard many reports of it, and already knew what we would experience if we hiked it: Every day, dozens if not over a hundred people hike or attempt to hike up this ridge. Often times there are groups of 20+ people hiking together. This ridge once looked as pristine as Aiea, with native vegetation growing around, but because of the constant traffic it has become extremely eroded, which has led to many O’hia trees dying and vegetation being wiped out. Looking at pictures of this ridge compared to others we’ve hiked, it is literally brown with huge, deep ruts rather than green with a narrow but clear trail. I can’t even imagine hiking a narrow ridge like that beside so many other people! All that to say, no, we won’t be hiking that ridge, and I will never recommend it or encourage other hikers to do it. There are plenty of other beautiful ridges in the Ko’olaus that will give you amazing views, and you’ll also get to enjoy native Hawaiian plants along the way. The Southern Ko’olau ridges that we’ve done have all been beautiful and scenic, but if you’re also looking for a quiet, peaceful hike, I highly recommend exploring North of the H3. It’s worth the effort!

Christmas 2018

Christmas 2018 in Hawaii | Holiday Stand Down | December 2018

The last few weeks of 2018 were exactly what we needed — Curtis had a very light schedule and we had plenty of time to relax and spend time together. I remember enjoying holiday stand down last year, but this year it felt so needed. We had a few ideas for longer hikes that we hadn’t done before, but ended up not doing anything too extreme. We used the poor condition of our hiking boots as an excuse. Instead, we filled our days with easy walks with Charlotte, and several outings and short hikes just for the two of us.

One new place we visited was the Byodo-In Temple in Kaneohe. This is located across the street from the Pu’u Ma’eli’eli Trail, and while we’ve driven by so many times we’ve never ventured back through the Valley of the Temples. The temple is found towards the back of a large cemetery and costs $5 per person to enter the grounds. It’s very picturesque, with Japanese styled architecture and Norfolk pine trees backdropped by the Ko’olau Mountains. The temple itself is a half size replica of a 900 year old temple in Kyoto Japan. After our visit here, we returned to Ho’omahulia Botanical Gardens — one place I’ve come to often, but always find something new in bloom that catches my eye.

Curtis had to work on Christmas Eve, but we spent all of Christmas day together. We continued our tradition of cinnamon rolls, watching Die Hard and doing puzzles, skyped with our families, then went to a friend’s house for a Christmas dinner.

Our last hike of the year was on December 30, when we drove up to the North shore with Charlotte hoping to do an easy hike. Unfortunately we had forgotten about the crazy surfer traffic up here in the winter months due to the huge waves, and parking was scarce. We ended up driving up to the Pupu Kea Trail, a lesser known hike which Curtis and I had done in our first month here but hadn’t really thought about since. It ended up being perfect for the day though, we just walked on the old abandoned road and Charlotte loved it. We even found an avocado on our way back!

Curtis and I attended his boat’s New Year’s party that evening, which was held on the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor. It was our first time visiting — unfortunately we couldn’t tour the boat, but we enjoyed watching the sun set from the deck and had an enjoyable evening with friends. Curtis worked on New Year’s Eve, and I did my best to keep Charlotte calm while the fireworks boomed all night long — starting at 11:15 that morning and lasting long passed midnight. Thankfully she doesn’t get too scared, but I could tell she wasn’t enjoying the constant noise and smell of smoke all night.

Now that we’re already almost through with January and back to long work days, these last few weeks are an even sweeter memory. I’m doing my best to relish the memories rather than wait impatiently for the next ‘break’… Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait until next Christmas (or later)!

Big Island Historic Sites

Big Island Historic Sites | Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site | Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park | December 2018

Soon after leaving Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the weather changed from a light drizzle to a heavy downpour that stayed with us throughout the morning. We were fine with that, as we didn’t have a lot of plans for our drive up the Windward coast. There were waterfalls, beaches, or short hikes we could have done, but as we drove through Hilo and the rain continued to fall, we decided to bypass them all. We certainly weren’t complaining after having 5 days of perfect weather for our big hikes. Not only that, but this is honestly the only bad weather day we’ve had in all of our island hopping experiences. We were totally content with a long road trip around the island.

I will say that while driving, I realized there is one thing I like more about Oahu than the Big Island. Obviously the Big Island has the huge advantage of more space and less people, but I felt that it was lacking in the impressive, striking views that the Windward coast of Oahu boasts. Sure, there were deep valleys and tall waterfalls, but I wasn’t in awe as I am every time I look at the Ko’olau Mountains. That being said, we didn’t stop to see the Pololu or Waipi’o Valleys on the North shore, which boast the more dramatic cliffs that we love to see.

Once we passed through Waimea on our counter-clockwise island road trip, the rain disappeared and the sun quickly warmed us up. We arrived at our first historic site of the day — Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site, just North of HI 19 on 270. The sun shone brightly over the drier Leeward landscape, and the ocean was a gorgeous deep shade of view. We applied plenty of sunscreen before beginning our tour of this historic site.

In 1782, three years after the death of Captain Cook at Kealakekua Bay, Kamehameha I began the process of fulfilling a prophecy told about him: that he would one day unify the Hawai’ian islands under one King. That year, Kamehameha began to unite the northern districts of the Hawai’ian islands but was unable to defeat his cousin, then in control of the Eastern side of the island. In 1790, Kamehameha visited a great Kahuna who recommended that Kamehameha build a great temple, a heiau to the great god Ku. Convinced, Kamehameha began construction on Pu’ukohola, the hill of the Whale. Transporting stones from the north shore in a 14 mile human chain, the temple was complete within a year. Upon the inauguration, Kamehameha’s cousin arrived by sea, possibly as a brokerage for peace, possibly as a way to surrender following the loss of his army to an eruption of Kilauea. As he arrived, one of Kamehameha’s chiefs attacked the cousin, ultimately slaying him and his party. And so, Kamehameha became the sole ruler of Hawai’i. Over the next 5 years Kamehameha and his army conquered the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kaho’olawe, and Oahu, culminating in the battle of Nu’uanu on Oahu. 15 Years later in 1810, the islands of Kauai and Ni’ihau became vassals to King Kamehameha and the Kingdom of Hawai’i.

The Heiau remained an active religious site for the duration of Kamehameha’s reign, but after his death in 1819, his son Kamehameha II, under the guidance of Kamehameha I’s wife, abolished the Hawai’ian religion and with it the use of Heiau. Like many of the other religious sites, Pu’uokohola Heiau was dismantled with the exception of the stone platforms. The platform were protected by some of the royal family throughout the 19th century until eventually being designated as a National Historic Site and preserved today.

Today, visitors are allowed to walk around the heiau (but not on top), as well as see some of the other ruins nearby: a fort that was used for coastal defense during the 1790’s, the remains of a royal court, and, off shore, the remains of another Heiau used centuries before this. The park also features a great audio tour which we took advantage of.

After our visit here, we continued driving South on 19 down to Kona. Just South of the airport was our final National Park site of the trip, and last item on our Big Island bucket list, Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park. We arrived just 45 minutes before the visitor’s center closes at 4, but were able to complete the short paved walk around learning about this site. There is more to see on the coast, so we left the main parking lot and drove to the Kona Sailing Club lot just South of there because we wouldn’t risk getting locked in here.

On the coast there was a bit more to see, but the real highlight was finally seeing my first sea turtles in the wild! I can’t believe it took over a year for me to see one, but here at this beach we lost count after 10!

This last historic site commemorates more the entirety of the Hawai’ian lifestyle and religion than an individual historic site. The site is around the remains of one of the many settlements and ahupu’a (land divisions). Mostly, the focus is on the coast and the fish ponds with a couple lesser heiau.

We were growing hungry after just snacking all day, so we drove into Kona to grab dinner before the sunset. We got kalua pork tacos, burrito, and nachos from Killer Tacos — all delicious and a great value for the price.

To wrap up our day, we drove back to the beach and watched the sunset — our island hopping tradition. We enjoyed the bright vibrant colors, as well as spotting Haleakala North of us. We then said goodbye to the Big Island, returned our rental car, and waited at the airport for a few hours for our 9:30 flight. The nice thing about this trip compared to our vacation to Kauai was that Curtis had 2 weeks of a much lighter schedule for Christmas break rather than jumping right back into work!

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Our Experience at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park | December 2018

2018 was a very eventful year at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and in areas surrounding the park on the Big Island. Eruptions, earthquakes, a hurricane, and government shutdowns. A lot of things changed around this side of the island, and much of the park was closed for the majority of the year. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have been able to visit on the precise dates that we did. A month earlier we wouldn’t have been able to drive up to the Mauna Loa Trailhead, a few days later and we wouldn’t have been able to backpack, camp, or do all but one hike near the visitor’s center. It’s hard to predict what will happen in the coming months and years, and how the park will continue to change — that’s just how it is when the main attraction is a very active volcano. That being said, if you are planning to visit it is always best to check the park website for the most recent alerts and conditions, because even though our visit was just a month ago as I’m writing this, things are different now than they were then. The main intention of this post is to record our experience here in December 2018, not to advise for future travel!

Since Mauna Loa is within the park’s backcountry boundaries, we spent the majority of our vacation here and camped every night at one of their designated campsites or cabins. Our trip was planned last minute, and staying here was the easiest and most cost-effective way to camp on the Big Island. Our first order of business after finishing Mauna Loa was to secure a campsite in the park’s only open drive-up campground.

There are 9 spots in the Kulanaokuaiki campground, and they are first come-first served, $10 per night. We drove about 4 miles down the Chain of Craters Road to the road to the campsite, and then a few more miles down a one-lane paved road, altogether about 20 minutes away from the park entrance. The road used to lead to the Hilina Pali, with views out over the ocean, but the road was only open as far as the campground today. We arrived and claimed our spot for the next 2 nights. We really enjoyed staying here — it was so far from the visitor’s center and main attractions of the park so it was very quiet all night, just what we needed after 3 nights of sharing cabins and not getting a lot of sleep. Since the elevation of this area is around 4000 feet above sea level, it was colder at night, but since we were now adjusted to the freezing temps of Mauna Loa, 50º didn’t bother us!

After setting up our tent it was just after noon, and we needed to stock up on food for the remainder of our trip. We drove to Hilo, which is 30 minutes away from the park entrance, then we drove back and stopped at the visitor’s center to learn more about the park.

One of the most interesting parts of the visitor’s center was the documentary film playing, sharing exactly what happened in 2018 that led to the eruption and earthquakes, as well as how much damage had been done and where. The before and after pictures of the volcano were truly impressive. To summarize, there used to be a lava lake at the bottom of the Kilauea as well as in nearby Pu’u O’o. Then late in April, the lake drained and the caldera floor collapsed. By mid-May, earthquakes had opened up fissures in the Eastern Riff Zone and lava began emitting and flowing to the sea. All of this activity is actually not in the National Park itself, but in residential areas to the East. The Park was mostly effected by follow on Earthquakes caused by the caldera floor settling. Over the summer the caldera floor dropped over 50 feet and grew over 7 times in size. It is this that caused most of the infrastructure damage to the park. This timelapse shows how the area has changed. It was fascinating to us because while we were just 200 miles away, I don’t feel like I had a great idea of what was going on. And while there was currently nothing eventful happening, the film ended on a note of uncertainty, because no one really knows what could happen next.

I knew before we arrived that there was no molten lava flowing, so I really wasn’t expecting much from our visit to the park. However, I learned that there is still some activity happening that’s interesting to see. Residual heat from the lava lake boils water deep in the earth and produces steam vents. Just down the road from the visitor’s center is a paved path that takes you right by many of these vents and to the Northern lookouts of Kilauea. While here, we also enjoyed walking through the small art museum.

On our final day of vacation, the day after hiking Mauna Kea, we began by driving down to the end of the Chain of Craters Road. It was the beginning of a very rainy day on the Windward side of the island, but this turned out to be in our favor that morning. For the remainder of our time in the park, there was constantly a rainbow over us! We drove all the way down the road to the coast, stopping at a few lookouts and admiring all the different lava flow around us. It was especially interesting to see from the coast looking back up, seeing how it had dropped off the cliff.

We had been hoping to hike through a lava tube, but unfortunately the one in the park was closed. For our last stop within the park, we decided to hike to the Keanakako’i Crater lookout. This used to be a spot you could drive up to, but the road was damaged in recent earthquakes so now in order to see it you must walk a mile on the paved road. It was raining lightly, but we put on our new windbreakers and they kept us (and my camera) warm and dry. While walking, we were able to see giant cracks across the road from the earthquake. But the real reward for our effort was arriving to the lookout and seeing a giant double rainbow stretched out above the crater. It was an incredible sight; the juxtaposition of an object that has caused great destruction, along with a sign of God’s promise to us. I snapped pictures and wiped raindrops off my lens as quickly as I could, totally in awe and disbelief that we had actually come across this beauty.

As soon as we made it back to our car, the rain began to pick up. We said goodbye to the national park and began our long road trip for the day.

Hiking Mauna Kea

Hiking Mauna Kea | December 18, 2018

Having successfully completed our 4 day backpacking trip on Mauna Loa, we felt as ready as we’d ever be to finally hike Mauna Kea. Our only concern was the weather. What if we worked so hard only to be turned away by strong winds or rain? We were camping in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, about an hour and a half away from the Mauna Kea visitor’s center and trailhead off of the Saddle Road. While we were in Hilo stocking up on supplies, we wrote down the phone number for the visitor’s center automated voicemail that gives updates on the weather. We called that night and the report seemed fine with nothing to be concerned about, so we made our plans to hike on the day after finishing Mauna Loa. Learning from our mistake with being so calorie starved while backpacking, we stocked up on snacks and a few more meals, then ate an entire pizza while driving from Hilo back to our campsite. We turned in early and had a perfectly peaceful night camping in the National Park (more details on our time in the park will be shared later).

On Tuesday morning, we awoke around 5 and gathered our things, then drove straight to the trailhead. Google Maps said it would take 2 hours to drive there, but with very little early morning traffic we made it around 6:40. We drove to Hilo, then took the Saddle road up to the Mauna Kea visitor’s center. We parked there and made a big breakfast of oatmeal in the parking lot while watching the sunrise. I duct-taped my boots together hoping that would last 12 miles. Such a glamorous life we live…

Finally, it was time to begin the trail. I was very excited to not have to use my big backpack again. Since this was just a day hike, all we needed was lots of food and water, so I carried my camelback and Curtis took my backpack. We wore the same gear we had on Mauna Loa — long sleeved shirts, fleece jackets, and windbreakers. We set off on the road, walking a short ways up until our trail, the Humu’ula Trail, went off to the left. 6 miles to the summit!

Yes, there is a road that goes to the summit of Mauna Kea. However, much of it is unimproved and most rental car companies don’t allow people to drive up. 4WD is recommended/required, and the road will often be closed for various reasons. Of course, driving up wasn’t even a consideration for us — we HAD to hike.

Our spirits were quite high as we began. While a few other people had driven up to watch the sunrise at the visitor’s center, we were the first and only hikers on the trail. I wouldn’t have minded meeting other high pointers out here, but it was so refreshing to be all alone and enjoy the trail together.

We began going up rather steeply soon after the start of the trail, and it didn’t take long to reach 10,000 feet. The first 3 miles were the steepest part. During this time, we went up nearly 3,000 feet in elevation. After that, it evened out for a while. We took many breaks for snacks — this time, we had Gatorade, Chexmix, Clif bars, and lots of chocolate. It seems that we were too excited about the concept of buying junk food while stocking up that we may have fallen short on actual meals…but that wasn’t a big deal, as this hike wouldn’t even take all day.

The hardest moment for me came somewhere along this long, steep stretch when I started feeling dizzy and a bit nauseous. I knew these were signs of altitude sickness, so we sat down out of the wind and I took deep breaths. Curtis offered me a Clif Bar, and I reluctantly ate it, but almost instantly started feeling better. We continued to take breaks to catch our breath and eat chocolate, but the doubt slowly started to leave my mind.

Compared to Mauna Loa, the terrain is much brighter with orange and red rocks. The trail was more worn and easy to follow. There were plants along the way that reminded us of silver swords on Haleakala, but different somehow. We loved being able to look down on the Saddle Road and see the various smaller craters. I had wondered if I would like Mauna Loa better when it was a view in the distance, but it still just looked like a big, long, unimpressive mountain. I think that the constant progress that we were making and the prettier surroundings helped our mindsets on Mauna Kea, but we knew that without our long and tiring experience on Mauna Loa, we wouldn’t be feeling as good as we were now.

The weather was similar to that on our backpacking trip, except today it was much windier. It still wasn’t strong enough to push us around, but sometimes it would steal the air right out in front of our faces so we had to turn our heads in order to take deep breaths.

My favorite moment came about 2 miles away from the summit when we stopped and looked ahead, and realized that we could see the peak from where we were. It was in that moment that I really believed we were going to make it. The next mile hiking up to the road went by rather quickly and was filled with enthusiasm, and a little bit of disbelief. We were actually going to make it!

We came to a junction in the trail, and we wandered up to the left briefly to get a look at Lake Waiau. We just walked far enough to be able to have a view overlooking it, and it was definitely worth it. We then continued up to the road. The final push to the summit is along the summit drive, which is paved at the top. We had our first great views to the Northeast and North as we switchbacked up to the peak. A few cars passed by, but it wasn’t as busy as we thought it would be.

Finally, we arrived at the end of the road. The true summit of Mauna Kea is protected and sacred, and while we could see that there was a worn path that led up to the mound, we decided to respect the Hawaiian culture and admire it from a distance. It still counts, guys. We did it! This is our 14th state high point, and only one accomplished in 2018. Long anticipated, and proved to be worth the wait. Not only that, but as of now it is also the highest mountain we’ve ever hiked at 13,796 feet. We had our picture taken next to the sign by some people who had driven up, then we wandered around the telescope on top and enjoyed the views in all directions.

When planning this hike, we considered the idea of getting a ride back down to our car. The day before when hiking down Mauna Loa, it seemed like a good idea. However, we enjoyed hiking Mauna Kea on the Humu’ula Trail so much that we were excited to hike back down and enjoy every step. We definitely didn’t regret this decision! As we hiked down, we watched clouds roll in over the valley between the mountains, and took time to enjoy the parts of trail that we had struggled to walk up earlier that morning. We made it back to our car mid-afternoon, then spent a little time around the visitor’s center before beginning our drive back to our campsite.

Unfortunately, Curtis’ phone died on the way up so we don’t have an AllTrails recording of this hike. If you’re interested in hiking Mauna Kea, check out the listing on the AllTrails website.

• • • • •

Read about our other high pointing adventures: Arizona / South Dakota / South Carolina / North Carolina / Vermont / New Hampshire / Prince Edward Island / Massachusetts / New Jersey / Connecticut / Illinois / Rhode Island / Iowa / South Dakota (again) / North Dakota

Backpacking Mauna Loa // Day 4

Backpacking Mauna Loa Day 4: The End | December 17, 2018

[Read about previous days here: Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3]

We began our morning by walking up the steep path to the summit of Red Hill to watch the sunrise along with the group of 6 (Red Hill Cabin is right next to Red Hill). This morning, instead of only a flat layer of clouds for the sun to rise above, there were also wispy clouds overhead that turned bright red before the sun came above the clouds. It was the prettiest sunrise we had seen yet.

We didn’t have much food left, so we set off with only water for our remaining 7 miles. We knew it wouldn’t be too difficult and hoped to get it over with as quickly as possible. However, we were now realizing that we need to step up our food game quite a bit. The one good thing that came from hiking with other groups is we realized how much variety that they had brought, compared to our canned soups and ramen. To be fair, we had planned this trip on a whim and only took a few minutes to get supplies from Walmart when we arrived, but we’re storing away some ideas for future backpacking trips. It would be easier if we had a camp stove, but we can’t fly with one so that’s out of the question for island hopping. We both acknowledged that we were calorie starved and would have done better with more food.

One thing that we did well on though was clothing, besides my boots: we both had our cargo hiking pants, then multiple layers for tops: a base layer (t-shirt for Curtis and athletic top for me), a light long sleeved layer for sun protection (Curtis wore a moisture wicking button up and I wore an athletic long sleeved top), a fleece for warmth, and our brand new pullover windbreakers that we got at consignment shops the night before we left. Those turned out to be a great investment; I’ve already worn mine several times on Oahu as well. We were sufficiently warm throughout our entire hike thanks to all of those.

Most of our descent was pretty uneventful, but we were surprised by the different plants we started seeing. We didn’t remember it being so green on our way up. And then we could hear birds again! It was so exciting!

When we were just a quarter mile from the end, we ran into a park ranger hiking up. She informed us that the road leading up to the trail head was about to be closed due to fire hazard, and asked us how many people were still up on the mountain. We told her 6 at the cabin on their way down, and the Italian/French man possibly up at the Mauna Loa Cabin. She was surprised by this, saying he wasn’t supposed to be up there, that they hadn’t given out permits since the day we received ours. What could anyone do in that situation? Surely she shouldn’t have to hike all the way up that day trying to find him, when he clearly bypassed the permit system and did what he wanted?!

Anyway, that also made us realize how perfectly the timing of this trip worked out. The summit was now closed, and the road was about to close. If our trip had been any later, we wouldn’t have been able to hike this mountain and knock out this goal! We realized how much the weather can be a factor in our ability to hike — even/especially in Hawaii. I started to worry if it would be possible to hike Mauna Kea in our 2 days remaining. All I could do was trust — trust that just as God allowed us 4 perfect days to hike and summit Mauna Loa, He would also give us one day to hike Mauna Kea.

One thing we also noted when we were staying in Red Hill Cabin was all the notes written in the cabin log book, and written on the walls. There were so many people saying “I made it to 12,000 feet!” I wish I had seen that on our first day in the cabin, because then I wouldn’t have felt so bad for feeling exhausted. Truly we were fortunate to not only obtain permits for the peak, but also to have made it! We had so much to be grateful for, despite all the trials presented to us on this hike.

Lastly, when we made it back down to civilization and turned on our phones for the first time, Curtis noticed that he had a voicemail from the national park. We had left our phones off intending to use them only in the event of an emergency. The message had come either on Saturday or Sunday, when we were supposed to be on the summit or in the summit cabin, and it said something like “We suggest you shelter in place because of high winds at the summit.” Again, we were confused because besides one gusty spot along the trail to the summit, we hadn’t ever felt even remotely blown around or in danger. Also, if we had gotten the message and stayed in place, would we have gotten stuck on this road that was about to be blocked off for fire danger?

I suppose all this is to say, if you ever plan on hiking Mauna Loa, be aware that there are many things that can cause the park to not hand out permits or close the road to the peak. I have no idea if certain times of the year are more likely to have this happen. I know that last year at this time, much of the mountain was covered in snow — this year, we saw no traces of snow, ice, or frost. I know that the mountain was off limits all last summer during the volcano activity, and had just reopened in October. Now, it’s all closed again because of the government shutdown. It’s probably best to go into it with an open mind and alternative plans, and be willing to consider even being able to get to Red Hill as an accomplishment. While some would consider this to be an easier 13,000 foot mountain because it doesn’t require any climbing/mountaineering, it’s still one to be taken seriously.

Our takeaways from all this were to prepare as much as we could in advance, and if given the chance to backpack this mountain, go for it, but still be mindful of the altitude and exhaustion it can cause. We drove back down the mountain road feeling satisfied and accomplished, and prayed that the last half of our trip would go as well as the first half had.

Backpacking Mauna Loa // Day 3

Backpacking Mauna Loa Day 3: The Summit and The Descent | December 16, 2018

[Read previous days here: Day 1 / Day 2]

Unfortunately, our night in Mauna Loa cabin was anything but restful. It seems that I have not mastered the skill of being able to fall asleep anywhere at any time as Curtis has — which is why he’s the submariner and I am not. I wasn’t able to nap before the large group arrived. While my body was weary and exhausted, my mind just couldn’t shut off.

Lying there above 13,000 feet was a weird feeling. I was constantly evaluating how I felt for any signs of altitude sickness. I’m not sure if my head hurt because of my neck and shoulder muscles from my heavy backpack, from dehydration and sun exposure, or from the altitude. It wasn’t a pounding headache, just a dull ache, so I wasn’t too concerned. Curtis also had a headache and said he wasn’t able to regulate his body temperature.

All things considered, we really didn’t have it that bad. When the group arrived at the cabin, they came with all sorts of symptoms. There was a lot of coughing and sniffling. Then in the middle of the night, we were awoken by one of the members that got sick. I’ll spare you the details, because she spared us none. That kept me awake for far too long. I started to regret being inside the cabin with all these people and their germs, but I knew it would be much colder outside on the summit.

The group stayed awake far later than us, talking and laughing with the occasional “Shhhh people are trying to sleep!” then the whispers would creep up back to talking normally and laughing, cycling through like this for hours. The group leader was constantly making more food and yelling out asking if people wanted any. The words “Couscous,” “Pudding,” and “Hot Chocolate” would continue to haunt us, playing over and over in our heads throughout the long and sleepless night. To make matters worse, as the night went on and no one was going to bed, the leader called out “I need at least 2 people to set alarms for 4:30!”

4:30 came way too soon. But the group didn’t all pack up and leave right then…no… They hung around talking, laughing, making breakfast, eating, and packing for about 2 hours. Curtis and I remained in our sleeping bag cocoons waiting for them to leave.

Over and over, I asked myself why? Why didn’t we change our permits for the next day and just stay in the drive-up campground in the national park that first night? Could we possibly have had this cabin to ourselves a day later if we did? I made myself believe that God had it work out this way for a reason. There had to be a reason why we ended up in this situation.

Once the group was gone, we got up and made our breakfast and packed up our things. We vented about all the little things that annoyed us, and that made us feel better. I was still exhausted, but our heads were feeling better and we were ready to take on the day.

Well…to an extent. As I predicted the day before, I still had no desire to hike to the summit. Curtis was doubtful if he wanted to, and debated it the whole 2 miles back to the trail junction. Once there, we sat down to think some more about it. I told him I thought he should do it — he would probably regret it if he didn’t. After sitting there a while longer and considering it, he finally decided to go for it. He emptied my backpack, which is more padded and comfortable to carry, and took only snacks and water, and set off to summit Mauna Loa. For him, this would mean an extra 5 miles on top of an 11 mile day. Thankfully most of the 11 miles would be going downhill. While he was gone, I took off my boots, rolled out a sleeping bag and tried unsuccessfully to sleep again. I was all alone for the entire time he was gone, and though I couldn’t sleep I definitely felt better than I did all night.

Curtis: The last 2.5 miles to the summit were much like the rest of the hike: a slow and steady climb with no end in sight. As the trail wound around to the West side of the peak, gusts of wind began to buffet and push me. At least it was pushing me up the hill. I broke out my phone for the first time of the hike to record my final ascent to the summit, and by doing so I was easily able to keep track of the miles. After about two miles, the trail returned to the edge of the caldera and I was able to look down into the crater. The cliffs at this point were several hundred feet high, but I was at a false summit and still had a half mile to go. The summit itself was pretty much the same but with more knick-knacks and hiker trash stashed in the summit cairn. I took my picture and pictures of the surrounding area, signed the summit register, and then started back down. I had told Jess to expect me to take 3 hours and I was pretty spot on with my guess. At one point, the gusting winds actually caused me to be pushed off the trail, but other than that, the hike back to Jess was uneventful. As the North Rim of the Caldera came into view I was able to see Jess and my bright orange backpack, and soon enough I was back. Nothing like a 5 mile hike to warm up for a 9 mile hike.

Jess: Once Curtis returned, he took a short break, then we repacked the bags and set off down the mountain. Here’s where a new problem arose — my shoes started having problems. They had started to come apart on the side seams this past year, and using crampons on Konahuanui certainly didn’t help that, but while going downhill they really started to split. I had to adjust the way I walked to avoid having my feet push too much against the front and cause it to split some more. All I needed was for them to make it down, then up and down Mauna Kea… 30 more miles. Could they make it 30 more miles?

Other than that, our hike down was much better than the hike up. Not just because it’s easier to walk down, but also because the views were much better. We were able to see farther in the distance to where we were heading, and we had the ocean in the distance and Mauna Kea to the North always there, always an incredible sight. But whenever I turned around and saw that endless slope, it was very easy to remember exactly what I was feeling the day before.

We came across one other hiker heading up, an Italian or French man who unfortunately had mistaken the numbers on the map for kilometers rather than miles. We knew that the big group was going to finish the mountain today rather than stay in the Red Hill cabin one last time. Of course, we had gone into this not sure if we wanted to stay a third night, but we were beginning to think it would be better to stay at the cabin. Because Curtis had summited the mountain, he would have to go 16 miles just to make it to Red Hill Cabin. Finishing would have added an additional 7 miles on top of that, then we would have to find an alternate spot to camp. The only camping site we knew of was a first-come first-served drive-up campsite in the national park that had just 9 spots.

We reached the cabin in the mid-afternoon, and found it occupied by a group of 6. We briefly debated whether to stay here, but decided it’d be good to take a break, and we would still have bunks of our own. Thankfully we didn’t end up regretting this decision. The group consisted of 6 friends that worked together here on the Big Island and were spending a night in the cabin to celebrate Christmas break. They were kind, quiet, and respectful, and played a fun brain game that we picked up on.

When we started talking to them, we learned that they had been hoping to stay in the summit cabin that night instead, but the national park rangers refused to give them permits up there because it was too windy at the summit. Apparently they stopped giving out permits the day after we got ours — which means that if we had decided to delay our hike because of the big group, we wouldn’t have been able to go to the summit either. And that was my reason — my mind could be at peace knowing that there really was a reason for being stuck with the group of college students! We were a little confused though as to why it was considered to be too windy at the summit. I personally never thought it was windy, and Curtis only noted the one spot along his hike to the summit that had bigger wind gusts. Surely this shouldn’t have kept people from being able to stay at the cabin?

Anyway, we settled in for our last night on Mauna Loa, feeling much better than the past 2 days and excited to finally be done with this tomorrow. And for once, I actually was able to sleep!

Backpacking Mauna Loa // Day 2

Backpacking Mauna Loa Day 2: Red Hill to Mauna Loa Cabin | December 15, 2018

[Read about day 1 here]

This day was quite honestly the hardest of our trip — and one of the hardest hikes we’ve done both mentally and physically. Not because it was dangerous like many trails we’ve taken on Oahu, but because the terrain and the altitude played with our minds the entire time. I cried several times on this day — the first time being when Curtis asked me, “Are you ready?” that morning when we woke up…because I was definitely not ready, and I knew it.

I didn’t sleep much on the porch of Red Hill Cabin. I moved back and forth from side to side to my back, but it wouldn’t be long before I’d grow uncomfortable again. Along with that, it got colder as the night went on and moving around so much caused the cold to creep into my sleeping bag. The group of 12 were all inside the cabin, and they stayed up far later than us talking and it seemed like every 20 minutes someone would come outside to go use the outhouse.

We got up when their alarms started going off at 5. We ate bananas and peanut butter tortillas and packed up all our things, refilled all water containers with filtered water, then left to get a head start on the group. In my head, I was doubting my ability to do this hike. However, I didn’t know what the alternative would be…to stay at Red Hill all day? Going back down meant having to find another place to sleep. I also acknowledged that this trip was possibly our only chance to hike Mauna Kea, and if I couldn’t hike Mauna Loa, how could I hike an even steeper trail up a higher mountain? I kept most of my concerns to myself, though I’m sure Curtis had his own doubts. Instead of focusing on making it to the peak, I focused on making it one more mile. A half mile. Until the next break.

On the plus side, the sunrise that morning was spectacular. This was honestly what I had been looking forward to the most: seeing several sunrises and sunsets from above the clouds. It was a highlight from our Haleakala experience, and it certainly proved to be the best part of this day as well.

Speaking of Haleakala, we started comparing this backpacking trip to that one, as well as our trip to Maui. We weren’t even halfway done with our hike up Mauna Loa, but we already knew that we enjoyed Haleakala much more. Hiking across Haleakala, it seemed like the scenery changed much more and there were more colors, cinder cones, silver swords, and valley views. Here, the majority of the terrain and rocks were black with some dark brown thrown in, and we only came across a couple of cinder cones that were bright orange 2 or 3 times. Overall, the scenery didn’t change. In fact, my favorite views from the whole day (besides the sunrise) were looking across the valley to Mauna Kea, and seeing Haleakala above the clouds in the distance.

I remember when we were hiking Haleakala, coming around a bend and seeing Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa for the first time. We were so eager for the day we’d be there, and now here we were, reminiscing and thinking about how we enjoyed Haleakala so much more.

We finally reached the 11,000 feet sign. Up until this point, the only signs along the trail came after every 1,000 feet of elevation — the trail itself is marked by many, many cairns. However, the stretch between 11 and 12,000 had 2 extra signs that gave the names of the cinder cones we were passing by, and we were quite disappointed to see each of them and realize we were still nowhere near 12,000, or the end.

It was somewhere along that 12 mile stretch where I discovered something about myself: I’m not a volcano/lava rock person. I know several people who would probably have been much more fascinated in the rocks we were walking on and when it would change, signifying a different year of lava flow. I was interested at first, but it got really old after a while. One thing that did catch my attention every time was when we would walk over a rock that sounded like it was hollow underneath. We would occasionally come across giant holes, which was slightly terrifying when I thought about it. Who’s to say that this rock won’t collapse as I’m walking over it? Could it support the 12 people making their way up the mountain a ways behind us?

Eventually, we made it past the 12,000 foot sign — now in the final stretch towards 13,000! At this point, it felt like the trail was playing games with us. The edge of the crater was finally coming into sight — at least we thought so — but the trail was zig-zagging around rather than going in one direction. It wasn’t switchbacking, just meandering around, going past different parts of lava flow. Some was actually pretty cool to see, but after 9 miles of lava…we were ready to be done. We finally reached the edge of the crater…but instead of relief, we were met with more disappointment and were honestly…unimpressed.

Don’t get me wrong, the giant crater is pretty cool. It’s huge, and from where we stood we couldn’t even see the whole thing. We still sat down right where we were to have a snack and take it all in. But on the cost/reward scale, this hike demanded way too much effort to have such a low reward. The real ‘reward’ for this hike was just knowing that we accomplished it.

However, we still weren’t done. This is where the disappointment factor comes into play. From where we were, at the first lookout of the crater above 13,000 feet, we were actually at a trail junction: We could either hike 2.5 miles in one direction to reach the true summit, or we could hike 2 miles in the other direction to reach the cabin. The summit and cabin are only 2 miles apart as the crow flies — across the crater — but nearly 5 miles apart by foot, and there is no other trail that connects them. Therefore, we had a decision to make: Do we try to summit right now, while we still have several hours of daylight, or do we give into our desires to just be done and go straight to the cabin, and save the summit for the next day?

I didn’t want to hike to the summit. Truthfully, I had already made it much farther than I thought I would, and my real goal all along was simply to backpack Mauna Loa — not summit the mountain. However, Curtis is a true peak bagger, in that he actually has to stand at the highest point. I wanted to go with him, but felt so exhausted in this moment that I really had no desire to do it. But I reasoned that I wouldn’t want to any more tomorrow, so after eating we decided to go for it.

As we began, we ran into 3 other hikers coming up from the Mauna Loa Observatory trail (this trail begins on the North side of the mountain, off of the Saddle Road, and is significantly shorter and steeper). We asked them where they were going, and learned that they also were staying in the Mauna Loa Cabin that evening — along with us and the group of 12. Curtis was about to warn them about the large group when they mentioned that they were meeting a group of 12… so now it was a group of 15. Perfect. The group was just making it to the crater at that point, so we hurried along to try to summit before them.

At first, walking the summit trail was flat and easy, and I thought maybe I could actually do this. But then we passed a sign saying that we still had 2 miles to go…and I realized exactly how far we’d have to walk, both up and back and to the cabin. And I just couldn’t get passed that. Curtis saw my disappointment and exhaustion, and immediately said “Let’s just turn around. We can do this tomorrow.” That was all I needed to hear. In that moment, all I wanted was to go straight to the cabin and be there all alone and try to sleep a bit before the big group made it there.

Thankfully the whole group was headed for the summit, which meant if we kept up a good pace to the cabin we could have a few hours to ourselves. For a while, I had thought of the group as being around our age, but somewhere along the trail I had a realization: they were in college, which puts them in the 18-22 year old range…so at the least, I was 4 years older than them. At first this was a devastating discovery, but then I realized that I needed to use this to my advantage: I needed to play the seniority card, and take one of those bunks with the padded mattresses. As their elder, I deserved it.

The cabin trail also started off flat, then eventually began going up in elevation. We passed by some pretty cool lava and some pretty big craters, but it all just blends together. Finally we could see the cabin in the distance, and little by little we drew nearer and nearer until we finally arrived. We didn’t take much time to look around, just entered, claimed some bunks and lay down. There were still several hours of daylight, but the combination of our heavy packs, dehydration, and the altitude were taking their toll on us. We settled in, hoping to get a nap in before everyone else arrived.

While we hadn’t yet made it to the summit, even at the cabin we were at our highest elevation ever hiked at 13,250 feet. The only other hike we’ve done over 13,000 feet was Mount Sniktau in Colorado in 2015.