whew, what a hike!! I had an odd day off, tuesday so decided to hit Koko Crater again. Started about 10am and carrying 20lbs of stuff wasnt a good idea!!

Start of the hike and there sure are some nice scenery at Koko Crater!

I was trying out my 10-22mm lens today with a bunch of other lenses in my heavy back pack. Really super wide!!

Start of the dreaded stairmaster from ..... I know I shouldnt have went at 10am ish. way too hot but few clouds helped.

Further along the trail you can see the backlog of hikers!! I didnt expect to see so many today. Makes it more fun and you get to try keep up with other groups.

Nearing the top, we hit the choochoo train of tired hikers!! I was amoung the group cuz by now I was feeling the heat and the weight of my bag.

And made it!! Took me an embarrasing 40mins to get up lol!! Usually aim for the low 20s but too much junk with me!! Fun part had a ton of girls up there! And all friendly fyi!

View towards Diamond head! What a great day to be on top of the world errrr Koko Crater!

Once I was at the top, it was super early so I decided to check out the west rim. Ive done it 2x so off I went. Only hard part was the start, straight down but doable. Not too far along the way I saw this kewl tree that screamed "black and white"!

Further along the way you start hitting the hard parts. Rock walking with nice drops on the sides. As long as you take your time and make sure you have a good place for your feet, no problems!

Hard part of doing the rim walk clock-wise is you keep thinking your are over the hard parts and BAM, another section of rocks to cross. There isnt much of a trail because cant tie ribbons onto rocks so you have to find your own way.

Getting closer to the end errr the half way mark! I kept thinking okay, this is the last section of rocks then im home free, and I run into another rock climb lol.

View towards the top. By this time I was feeling the heat! Almost finished my first bottle of water. Sure with i brought my regular backpack with my lunch in it.

Nice big cactus!! On later parts of the trail, you start running into them along the trail and man those needles are sharp and long! Got more then a few scratches and pokes.

Yes, more rocks...

Another tree that screamed B/W! I love the textures on it. Gave me good excuse to take a break.

By now I was tired of rocks!! I wanted this thing to end already lol.

Aha! Finally the end is near. This part is where you will get a bunch of scratches from the koa trees and cactus and keawe bushes!

I was too tired to take many pictures in the botanical garden but ugh, I couldnt find the trail back up the east rim! I walked all over that garden looking for it. Finally gave up after 30+ minutes and just trail blazed my way up!! Got lucky and hit an easy way up the mountain w/out sliding all the way back down. Here's the view towards the top. It was a long, long way to go when you are tired. I could barely lift my feet and took way more then a few breaks.

And hears my gps readings of the trip!! Almost 5 miles in the hot sun! Almost 3,000 feet of climbing!! Ignore the 2:26 minutes of non-movement lol!!