Koko crater pano

Koko crater pano
best view of the island

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Koko Crater rim hike with friends

Aida and her friends wanted to do the Koko Crater rim hike and needed a "guide" so I volunteered to join em. Even got a Sunday off to do the hike, lucky me!
We all met at the botanical gardens nice and early, then headed up the west rim... or did we?!
Just our luck the security guard saw us and told us "No can do!".  What to do..
What else? We just went into the gardens and did the rim walk clockwise!
We made it past all the cactus parts and slippery parts that lead from the gardens up the east rim. I was mostly trying my hand at video this time so missed a few pictures along the way. Aida is taking shots of Sandy's on a great day for a hike. Nice and overcast with light winds..
Aida with her pals Dean and Jerrauld. Really nice, quiet hikers!! I was only one none stop blabbing most of the time.

Still heading up the east rim. Today the members from H.O.T. were doing the stone arch so I was looking for that group. Think almost 30 people so figured it would be easy to spot them.

Made it up to where the stone arch trail meets the crater rim and we met a few hikers. But, they weren't from H.O.T., but another batch. They were also planning on doing the rim counter clockwise, but when we told them about the guard, they decided to go in opposite direction, like us.
  When I looked way up to the top, I think I saw the H.O.T. group on the lookout relaxing.

And up we go, the other group were pretty fast so they left us behind. They had one hiker who was really afraid of heights!! What a brave guy to battle his fears and do this hike! Gratz to him!
We made it to the top in no time , took a short break and ate some yummy mangoes that Aida had.
By time we started down the west rim, the other group (minus a few hikers) already left us far behind.
 Aida was like, you want me to go down that!! Thats hardest part of going rim clockwise, you have to climb DOWN all the rocks, which is harder then climbing up them.
She found a nice, safe route so rest of gang followed her.
Bit of the easy parts, then comes the first rock formation to get by.

You can go around this section or be like Jerrauld and go over them! I went around to show Aida the path and I was video taping (thats my excuse!).
 Aida making sure she has firm footing!! Dont wanna slide off the side!
After the first rock formation, its pretty easy. Just follow the trail....
 First of the many parts where you have to climb down the rocks and climb up next section. I just hopped over them! Fun fun!
Is that a smile of relief?
Another section that you have to go around the rocks. This rock section was pretty high but I think you can go over. Ill have to try one day.. NOT!

Toughest part of this side of the crater is the harder rock section just keep coming! Once you think you are done with them, another pops up.

And finally down to my favorite section, the rock wall!! This is super fun to climb up! Like a giant rock wall with a ton of handholds to grab onto. Since we didnt go up the stairs, I had lotsa energy and once I made it down to the bottom, I ran/climbed back up to the top!

And finally we made it down to the last section. Right after this is the Keawe bush parts so be careful! The security guard didnt care if we went down the trail so he just waved at us on our walk past him. And you believe it, I forgot to turn on my gps!! But took us about 3 hours for the whole hike. What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Many thx to Aida, Dean and Jerrauld!! Hope we get to go hiking together again one day.

Video part 1

Video part 2

2 comments:

  1. Dan, thanks for guiding us! You were terrific! We enjoyed it and have fun. Let me know when your next free weekend is. I'm always looking for someone to hike with :-). Aloha! ARG

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  2. Mr. Dan! Aloha!
    Thanks to your advice, we enjoyed Koko crater's hiking so much.

    As of your blog, Koko Crater's rim hike is amazing, and your beautiful photos!
    Thank you for much of your blog!
    It is fun!
    Next time of our honolulu visit, we will definitely try rim hiking! (If possible..)

    We can not wait to see our wedding photos you kindly took for us!

    Mahalo to you.
    Tsuji

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