Needless to say we were ready to hit the road and the trails on Monday morning! Did our normal Kailua beach walk and Kalapawai coffee stop - then we donned our hiking gear and headed over to Honolulu to do the Tantalus loop drive. This is a spectacular twisty, windy road that works its way up and around the cliffs that look down on Honolulu and Waikiki. There are stunning vistas of the city, the beach and Diamond Head. Sadly, while all the weather services said it would be sunny today, it was a tad overcast and, well, misty. So our pictures aren't all that great. But, heck, the drive and the hikes were worth it even if it doesn't appear that way!
First stop - the look out at the Pu'u Ualaka's State Wayside Park. Wow! This is a fabulous place. If only our pix were as great as we had hoped!
Ah well, that’s what happens! We made our way back down the hill a bit and stuck out on the Ualakaa Trail. The parking lot alone is awesome. It’s such a jungle! Cool!
As we hike along, the Fig Trees are totally amazing. Everywhere in the forest – forming arches over the trail. Sunny loves the trees and wants to climb them all. We have to talk him down from a couple!
The hike took us about 45 minutes and it looped around the top of the ridges, crossing Round Top road twice. While crossing the second time, we watch a skate boarder flying down the road – this is a twisty, turny, windy 2 lane road through the mountains. Amazing. This guy was going 30 MPH, minimum. Just freaky, scary, really! Wow!
Back in the forest, we were happier with the peaceful, cool and quiet environment! Beautiful!
Back on the road, we wind our way up,then down the mountain. Passing tons of scenic pullouts. Taking pictures that really didn’t do justice to the view. Ah well, wait 5 minutes and the weather will change!
Next we head over to Manoa Falls, but unfortunately there is no where to park there any longer. You either have to pay to park at the Treetops buffet restaurant (not!) or park way down the hill and hike up. No again! So, we ditched that and went on around the island to the Kuliouou Valley trail. It’s a nice little overgrown trail where you park in a cul-de-sac at the end of a Hawaii Kai neighborhood.
It’s fun, with completely different foliage than up in the mountains. But after a while, the trail sort of closes in and we call it a morning of hiking!
We head back to Kailua, stopping at Costco for supplies (cheap dry roasted Mac Nuts and chocolate Kona coffee mac nuts – yay!). Then more supplies at Safeway – and we’re settled for the evening! Nice day!
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