Ka'ena Point, North entrance (again)

 Hello all, it was the weekend!

I realize I've already hiked this trail from this side before with my sister in an earlier post, found here.

This time, however, I hiked with my mother since she had yet to do the trail herself. She also wrote about this particular hike in her blog "The Walking Hawaiian."

I'm of the opinion that even something done several times before always holds something new each visit if you look. Aiea Loop Trail, for example, surprises me with a fallen tree strewn over the path every venture along up its heights. Ka'ena had some treasures in store too.

Some things of note this time around,we left much earlier and arrived at 8:30 a.m. The route was already hot to start--maybe not as hot as midday when my sister and I went last (10:30 a.m. or so)--but the sun wasted no time beating on our backs and baking the ground. Thrice over and thrice over I agree this place is aptly named "The Heat."

The start of the trail abruptly begins in dirt road.

Mom and I went a bit more prepared for this hike; ice water, sun tan lotion, snacks, everything required for an afternoon dip, but she forgot her phone. So I lent her mine. All the images you see here today are hers!

There weren't too many folks passing us this early to start, but the numbers grew as time went on. Mom and I stuck to the main trail rather than sweeping left and right, dipping up and over the pockmarked 'beachside' road. Mom snapped plenty of pictures along the way, but I felt the real meat of the hike happened at the point.

Here we are at the point again!

It was a beautiful (if hot) day on the western point and we poked around a bit for any Hawaiian monk seals perusing the area. I kept an eye out for what seems to be these animals' favorite spot at a sheltered outcrop of rock and I didn't see any loungers. I indicated the spot to mom and she went to check it out.

Successfully.

"You're in my spot!"

I turned from my vantage point just in time to see this monk seal bark at mom. She said she thought it was a log until it dipped under the surface and came back up again. I trotted over to get a closer look but tried to stay a respectable distance so I wouldn't upset the seal. Mom got a few pictures and I warned that we were supposed to be 150 feet back, so we didn't stray long. Still, I can't argue with the great pictures she got.

I had quite a bit more energy this time around, possibly because we began early enough that I didn't feel so sun-bleached and I climbed all over. I was severely tempted to jump into the crystal cool water, clothes and all.

Yours truly overlooking ocean force meeting stubborn lava rock.

Look at that deep spot at center, it had to be 20' of plunge-worthy diving.

Scrambling over the rock, I shocked a coconut-sized crab from its chilling spot and it kamikazed into the water ten feet below, which surprised a modest school of electric blue fish. I want to say they were uhu fish. The most beautiful blue I've ever seen.

Still scrambling, mom eventually joined me and I called attention to some naturally drying Hawaiian sea salt. Also a number of shed crab exoskeletons. It's so neat exploring inter-tidal zones.

Hawaiian sea salt au naturel. 

On the way back, we pulled off at a spot more welcoming than most of the rocky 'beaches' and took a dip in the water. A school of fishes didn't waste too much time taking shelter beneath us and nibbling at my toes. "Is this dead? Can I eat it?" A couple of the more aggressive fish gave more than an experimental nibble and I felt bad for how hungry the fish must be. I wouldn't have ventured out into deeper waters if I was their size either.

I yanked a plastic bag out of the water, afraid some turtle might eat it thinking its a jellyfish, and I also found a rusty knife!

Acquired one rusty pirate knife.

I thought it was interesting because half of the handle had rusted off and the sand-blasted salt layer abruptly ended in a neat line which suggests the knife was stuck in the water up to the blade. For goodness knows how long. I carried out knife and bag to toss into a garbage can later. Between landfill and ocean, I would pick the landfill. Even if the waste still runs into the water at some point. Huah.

It was a lovely morning/afternoon and a great trail to re-experience! Thanks for the hike, mom.

Happy Monday.

Hiking Waimano Pools

Hello all, it's the weekend!

Quick Reference:

-Waimano Pools/Falls hike, valley
-Buried in Ewa Forest Reserve in Waimano Valley
-3 miles round trip
-Home of "Cardiac Hill" (700 ft elevation gain)
-Bring swimming gear!

This has been a hectic summer and it only seems to wind up as time presses forward.

Circumstances granted that my immediate family and I all be reunited for a week and we have been jackknifing all over the island at my brother's behest to visit some old haunts. We hunted down some favorite foods and eateries, lounged beachside and attacked the surf at White Plains (see previous post), along with those things you can't plan for like vehicle troubles. (The day my spare tampon plugged a rotted radiator hose and we went on our merry way.) It was such an event-filled week I struggled to remember which days we did what as I updated my journal.

Anyway, on to today--my brother and I had made plans to go snorkeling up North Shore and snag some Matsumoto's shave ice on the way back Friday. Didn't happen. Saturday we hit the swap meet at the stadium and had a huge family party for my brother. Then Sunday rolled around and my bro decided to do other activities, while my sister insisted we go hiking.

Panoramic of the ridge between two very narrow stretches of grove--almost at the bottom!

She chose Waimano Pools and we both fretted if we had already done this trail. It turns out we hadn't.

After a light lunch, Darcie and I headed to Pearl City and took off E Komo Mai [Welcome] Dr., following the road all the way to the end where the trail head sat. I knew we'd reached it when the tiny residence road was packed with vehicles parked on either side of the street.

A view of the west side from the trail.

Squeezing through the fence at the end of the road, we started down the Manana Trail and up a paved road to a water tank and promptly onto a dirt trail. It had rained a rare thunderstorm the night prior and the way was muddy. I always cringe finding soft trails at the start because the deeper into the valleys you go, the more muddy the trails become. Yes, I started with white shoes on this hike and they ended up caked.

The path split on us a couple times and my sister and I are the types who want to explore every branch, just to see where it goes.

We picked our way through the trees up and down gradual grades until the path narrowed and dropped into the valley. A sign pointed us to "Waimano Falls 1 mi" and my sister and I threaded our way over a large exposed root section. This had to be at least a hundred foot root system. We used the trees lining the trail for stability here on out. There was a few spots I would have tumbled headlong had I not been holding onto a guava tree.

A rocky section met us next with another steep grade we had to carefully negotiate because the rocks were wet and our shoes were muddy. The stream danced in and out of our path as it too wound its way to the stream at bottom.

We crossed a narrow bit of stream maybe midway through the trail and descended more, broke out into an open section of ridge that was breathtaking and plunged back into a very narrow section of grove.

The bit of stream we hopped on our way down.

We spilled out at the bottom at last, hung left at the fork, and followed the path upstream. The trail took us over an unfed split in the stream, back to the main branch and we tracked this all the way until we hit the falls.

Smaller panoramic of the stream winding its course through Waimano Valley.

The 'split' in the path had us cross over the active and inactive sections of the stream. Gorgeous!

The first thing you see is the smaller waterfall with a rope swing strung above it. Behind that is the larger falls which made an impressive sight.

The lower pool of Waimano Falls and the swinging rope. I loved the 'weeping rock' on the right.

I was not planning to swim. I usually do not swim as a precaution against contracting a nasty bacterial infection known as leptospirosis. The bacteria comes from infected animal urine or feces left behind in mud or in runoff and can be a waterborne illness in Hawaii. But when my sister (and a whole host of other people) ducked under the big waterfall, I couldn't help myself. I always ache to swim when I go to any waterfall and today I threw caution to the wind.

And the major fall! I could not resist its charms. The water felt great!

It was a blast.

We both swam beneath the big falls and I marveled at the sheer power behind that drop. We also both slid down to the smaller fall and swung off the big rope into the pool below that. Great fun. We must have hung around the falls for a solid hour before making our way back up "Cardiac Hill." And yes, I did have to stop twice to catch my breath.

But it was a gorgeous day and a welcome release to not only hike but hit the water. Here's hoping I came out as clean as I felt.

Happy Sunday.