Koko x 2

Weather looked iffy (on friday) and it was late, past 10am already so only place to go.. Koko Crater again ugh. I think im going up there way to many times! But rain=mud and I hate muddy trails so..

Do we ever have bad days in Hawaii? Hot hot again!! Took me 27 minutes up this time, guess im slowing down in old age!

I've been here so many times I'm running out of things to take a picture of..

Cactus? Since it was still early and didnt have to get home till 3pm, I was thinking of where to go. Thought of Mariners Ridge but saw someone on Koko Head so off I went..

I just left my car at Koko Craters parking lot and walked up the road towards Kalanianiole Hwy(ugh, how on earth you spell that?)

You walk past the gun range. Today didnt have as many people shooting guns today.

And here's the "trail", just walk up up up that road. Only thing to worry about is the cars that sneak up behind you (if you are wearing ipod earphones).

Halfway up there is a bunker? on the right side so I had to go take a peek and saw this suitcase full of bottles of ??. Kinda smelly in there so I didnt bother to try peek.

View towards Koko Crater. Pretty easy hike up Koko Head, even tho I just did Koko Crater.

Yeah, I know that is one crappy pano shot lol. But im soo tired i just said screw it. I took a better one last time and was too lazy to grab the link for it.

And again, in no time at all I was at the top. It was dripping hot because there are no trees to give you some shade.

And this is the road down to the back of Koko Head. How on earth those trucks drive down this road I have no clue..

Heres a shot of up the road. Its pretty steep but since no dirt or rocks, your shoes get nice grip.

Not much to take pictures of on this trail until you get back to Hanauma bay side.

Now this part is hard!! You have to watch your step carefully because these rocks are slippery!!  One miss step and you will fall, trust me on this!

I found Koko Crater's small brother!!

And here's the final climb back up to the top. Steep but no that bad.. unless you look behind you and see...

A crappy storm coming my way!! I tried to get up that trail as fast as I could do safely and didnt make it! I got soaked from the rain. I found a tiny bush to hide under but didnt help much because it was windy too!

And final stats for just the Koko Head trail. 1200 feet in 3.27 miles. And only 1 hour and a half to do whole thing. Perfect match for Koko Crater hike. By time you pau with both, you will be pooped (if you outta shape like me!).

Mariners ridge hike

I was reading on facebook (on the Oahu Weekend Hikers) page and saw they had a Mariners ridge hike with a bunch of dogs and a ton of people. Usually when I hike it's solo so I thought it would be fun to see a lot of hikers for a change.

Another beautiful day for a hike. Great thing about Mariners Ridge is its mostly under the trees.

I'm always hoping people follow this sign!! But they dont... so you gotta be careful with your steps!

Fun easy hike with not too much tuff parts. Best hike for beginners because the view is worth the effort. Short but sweet...

Few of the many different groups I saw today going up Mariners. All friendly like most hikers are.

View towards the ocean. I'm always trying to make a nice black/white shot and never can...

And before you know it, I'm at the top already. 50 min with a bunch of sidetracks taking pictures and chatting with the many hikers.  949 feet in  1.27 miles is steep but not a killer.

Decided to head off towards town direction on the newly made side trail. Showed 2 girls where it was and they just zoomed on it!!

Nice view of Olomana from the top of the hill. Great spot for lunch too.. too bad I didnt bring any!

since I was sitting and relaxing, I took a shot of the stats to the hill. Super easy climb that just about anyone can do.

When I got back up to the look out. boy were they are lot of people up there!! And a ton of super friendly dogs!!

Had to try my hand at a people pano!! They dont work that great unless everyone stays still... you can see my mistakes if you look close..

While goofing off at the lookout, might as well take a few more pictures.

Opps, this one should have been near the beginning of this lol. Nice view of the two Koko craters.

I was talking to a young couple and told them about the new trail and off they went. I waited till they go on the ridge and took some shots of them making their way to the  hill.

And before you knew it, they were at the top. I didnt stick around to see if they went further along the trail cuz I had to get home and cook dinner lol.
Super fun day! Got to meet a bunch of hikers and saw some people who I know from their posts on forums/facebook. Oh, yeah, sorry again for getting in your super pano  group shot (guy from the spca group). Your camera is crazy wide!!  I should have wrote down which camera you had cuz now I want one!!

Another rainy day, another hike up Koko Crater..well, these shots are from last week. The last time I did the crater rim trail, I couldnt find the trail up from the botanical garden so I decided to grab my trail ribbons and mark the trail a bit so I could find it next time.

If you do this trail from the botanical gardens, park and talk the road/trail to the left side. Once you see these trees, you are close to the trail up.

Follow this sign prob 20feet till you see:

Thats the trail up to the east rim of Koko Crater. Don't do it like me and just trailblaze up the side!!

This is the hard part of the trail. Along the side of the trail is a nice batch of very sharp cactus!!

Here's a panoramic shot from the top of the trail up.

Been to the Pali Notches? Well, here's the Koko Crater notches!! errr notch.

And another pano from a little further along the trail back up to the observation decks. On sunny days like this, bring a lot of water!

Crater view of Sandy beach. Not much surf today...

And bird eye view of the parking lot for Helona blowhole. This is where you park if you ever want to do the trail up Koko Crater via the stone arch/bridge.

View of the side of the crater. Still pretty green, glad we have lotsa rain this summer.

And back to the top. Caught shot of some random hikers coming up. Even tho it looks scary, the east rim if pretty easy.

And here's my stats for the whole trip.  Not that hard at all and doesnt take too long.