Garmin GPS Replacement

Just a short post showing a replacement Garmin GPS unit. My trusty Yellow etrex Cx is on the left, etrex 30x is on the right. It had been quite awhile since I messed with the trusty yellow etrex. Pretty much, opened the battery compartment and found old batteries that started to erode the shiny silver battery terminals. Did the best to clean the terminals and installed new batteries.

The unit powered up fine, but the date was not correct and would not correct itself. The date was something like April 2000. Figured I could live with that. But the (cleaned) corroded battery terminals made the power source connection rather intermittent. That became rather bothersome. So I got the new one on the right. Works pretty well, boots up quick, acquires satellites quickly too. Loaded up some geocaches and hope to take it geocaching soon.

Sure a cell phone with the geocaching app will also work. Having a rugged handheld gps unit is kind of nice to have around. Batteries last longer and if it is dropped it will still work. So, my trusty yellow one will go to ewaste, sorry to say. It got me out of a really bad jam once and I am thankful for that.

Sleeping Giant Hike

One of the more challenging hikes is Sleeping Giant. I had not hiked this trail in a few years. Instead I'd been focusing on hiking familiar trails up Koke'e, and further up the road, Kuilau Trail. One of the main things that makes this hike impressive are these Cook Pine trees.

                                  
Where else can you pretty much take your time and be in the middle of these very tall pine trees, hear the song birds chat back and forth, watch the trees sway back and forth and get rained on all at the same time.

The song birds are awesome.

While on the trail, I had met up with (passed and got passed a few times) by a nice European couple. The Gentleman was nice enough to snap this photo of your truly next to a glorious Cook Pine. In the case hiking to the top is not in the plan, consider getting into the middle of the Cook Pine grove and just hanging out for awhile.

During the climb up, thought to snap a photo of the .75 mile marker. The photo does not really show the full extent of the mud. But a little mud does not bother anyone.

Surprisingly, despite not having done Sleeping Giant or any steep hike in quite a long time, at the .75 mile marker, I did not feel really physically stressed. A little tired of course but never felt the need to turn around.

Reaching the top (where the covered picnic tables are), of course had to snap a shot of the traditional rooster in all his glorious plumage. You have to love these guys.

And finally, a snap shot of the trail while on the way done. Overall, the trail remains in very good condition. It was overcast and rainy which was totally fine with me.

I look forward to doing this trail again.