Pihea and Awaawapuhi Trail

Friday, 26-Oct-12, 06:15 Pihea Trail

Started out the day leaving the hotel very early in the morning around 4:30 am. It was important to arrive at the trailhead before sunrise. It makes for a better experience. I did not have any water with me and water is number one priority. Kamakani Bakery (Thrifty Mart Bakery) opens at 0500 and has quite a selection of bakery items, lunch items and bottled water. I got two large bottles of water and a spam musubi (for breakfast once up the hill). The trip up the hill and to the end of the road went well. The only other person going up was someone going to work at the Air Guard.

What made the drive up the hill more interesting was a thunderstorm out in the ocean to the west and it was lighting up the sky. Better yet, the lookout is at 4000 plus feet elevation. It allowed for looking at the thunderstorm at the same level, instead of looking up at lightning, you could look as it was formed and on it’s way down. Arrival time at the end of the road was 5:50, approximately 30 minutes before sunrise and it was still dark. It was musubi time.

Once it started to get light enough to see, the gear list was checked, socks and hiker’s put on. Since the distance was only one mile in both directions, I just took a good long drink of water. I would need all that water later.  The gear list was simple a camera and gps.

Looking to the west are the familiar views that can be seen from Kalalau Lookout. Those clouds contained the thunderheads that provided the light show.

About half way into the hike, the sun made it's way up. There was plenty of light before hand to see the trail clearly.

Thought to take some shots of the morning mist over the ridges as they are warming up for the day. This actually marked the end of the trail for me. It does continue on up to the vista and other parts. I needed to turn around and actually save energy for the next hike.

The ever present wild life. Not sure if it is a hen or a nene. Did not seem to scared of a human and was content to continue pecking around. Eventually as I got closer, it cruised off into the security of the bush.

1 mile in, 1 mile out (2 miles).

Friday, 26-Oct-12, 08:30 Awaawapuhi Trail

Moving to the next hike, this is why I needed the full load of water. The protocol I followed for this round of hikes was to gps track on the way down and take photos on the way back. In most cases this worked out pretty well, as the rest period for a photo was welcome but had the tendency for a blurry photo due being being really tired. 

After a short 30 minutes (all down hill), I arrived at the end. This goat was not as surprised as I was. It was happy just to be out there traversing the dangerous cliffs. Did not want to scare it off so I made no sudden movements.

No need to tell me twice. I hope the workers who installed these signs had a horse or mule to bring down the material and installation equipment. Dragging that stuff up back up the trail would be a real drag. I rested here for 30 minutes and finished a one liter bottle of water and a Dr Pepper.

On the way back up and during one of many needed rest stops thought to at least take one photo of the trail.

This is a popular intersection. I chose to go in the same direction, up. The added mileage was not something I was planning on or prepared for. It was about a 2.5 hour upward march back to the trailhead. Once there, the hiker's and socks came off and slippers were put on. Cut three white ginger flower pods and called it morning.

3.25 down, 3.25 back (6.5 miles). I had to work hard for every step back.

Total for the morning, 8.5 miles.