Koko Crater again ..... ugh

Guess I'm in a hiking rut! Only going Koko Crater lately.. But today was a fun hike, finally got to hike with someone.. kinda.
Started hike about 10am and boy was it busy! Parking lot was almost full. Got lucky and found a good spot, grabbed my waist bag and backpack. Today I had the backpack because I was going to place a geocache on the trail and wanted to let it sit for a while to check on its durability and if it was waterproof.
Made it up in 25 minutes, again.  Can't seem to do it any faster, bummers but at least I beat a ton of people on the way up. While I was huffing and puffing at the top, some young boy came running up that darn trail. I asked how fast and he said.. 15 minutes! Darn, thats fast!

Lots of young people up here today. Glad they out hiking instead of staying home watching tv or playing video games!!

Hard to see but today I saw a group going down the west rim. Don't see many people doing the rims and its rare to ever see anyone on the west side. After eating my 7-11 sushi, I decided to head down the west rim too to place my geocache and see if I could join them for some fun.

Saw some strange creature hiding by a cactus!! Creepy huh? Joke, just some odd shaped plant.

I went a bit farther and was placing my geocache when I saw the group of 3 coming back. Seems it's the first time they every tried the west rim and hit a dead end. I decided to help them out even tho I didnt plan on doing the whole loop again.  Way more fun hiking with a group then solo!!  There were 2 guys and 1 girl in the group who all work together and I guess, hike together too. Fun part was the girl (Aida) was afraid of heights!! How on earth she got the nerve to do the west rim is amazing! Some parts you are walking on a foot wide rock with pretty big drops on both sides.

Few random shots I took of them hiking down the trail. Some parts were hard for the girl so she had to really get her nerve up to make some of the climbs down. Not much room for error and Im glad she was super careful! The 2 guys were just trucking along! Sorry, after being told their names 2x I still forgot them!! Please kick me, I'm soo bad with names.

And finally reached to end of the west rim half of Koko Crater. It was a lot more fun then last time I went. The last section was like a rock climbing wall! I wanted to go up and down it a few more times lol. Since the group parked at the Botanical gardens parking lot, we parted at the entrance. Id like to say thanks tons for allowing me to join your group! I had a blast and glad you all made it w/out any mishaps. Hope to get to join you again some day.

and, once again the final tally. 4 miles with a bit over 3,000 feet in climbing. By time I reached the top, I was pooped lol. I should have brought me some food!! But, I wasnt planning on doing the whole loop again but it was worth it.