Trails and tales

As mentioned in my previous hiking posts...Hawaii has strange trails that are often unmarked or marked poorly as to the correct path to follow.  However- I've recently found a book that helps you navigate the most popular trails here by narrating the trail in more natural landscape features.  This is a super helpful book since the best trails on the island are only known by locals and not part of the state parks system.  The book is also pretty cool since it gives you some history or flora/fauna notes for each hike as well.  I admit- when I first red "pass the medium size cactus on your right, followed by a larger cactus on your left" - I thought this book was going to be useless.  But sure enough- the cacti are still there 10 years after publication and are big landmarks that you can see heading up the side of the cliff where no other trail markers exist.
Here are some pictures and stories from recent hikes, most before discovery of said book, one afterwards:

Kahana Valley- This hike was supposed to extend up to a shrine of some sort at the top of the mountain, but I clearly had lost whatever trail there was supposed to be and ended up hiking up a rain-washed crevasse along a cliff.  I finally gave up at a pretty high lookout point about 200yds from the top...will have to try again one day now that I have more guidance available.

Kahana Valley hike looking out over the Kahana bay and ocean

Pillbox hike that Leslie and I did one day- pretty straightforward and popular hike.  Plan to hike this one again on a full moon for some star gazing.

View from one of the pillboxes overlooking Lanikai below and one of two small islands just out from shore.

Byodo-In Temple- replica of an ancient Buddhist temple in Japan, it houses a nine foot tall statue of Buddha inside, the largest wooden Buddha carved in over 900 years.  It's also surrounded by this big reflecting pond full of huge koi.

Huge koi fish!!

This is Maunawili falls- a semi-disappointing trickle of water over some rocks for all the mud we hiked through to get here.  Unlike several trails- this one had signs along the way since it is a popular hike.  However- one of the last signs is clearly poorly placed with many footprints evident in the mud leading down a random footpath that dead ends on a muddy hillside another 1/4 mile down.  My footprints now join the others down this poorly marked path.

Hike with guide book up a couple of cliffs and down to the Makapu'u lighthouse.  The classic hike here is along this paved road up to the lighthouse, but the book described an alternate route that was much more exciting with some great views such as this one looking back up the east coast of Oahu.  You can see the three peaks of Olomana (featured in one my earliest posts) kind of in the center of the picture.  Didn't get lost here!

Pele's chair- believed to be where the goddess of fire and volcanoes- "Pele"- sat to look back over her creation of Oahu before moving southward to create the other islands.  You can see some lei's left on the chair to honor this traditional belief.

Makapu'u lighthouse- you can't hike down to the lighthouse itself, so just snapped a shot from the observation deck above.

Honoring tradition...

Well, I had pretty typical mainland Thanksgiving- except the sweet potatoes were purple (which is the norm here).  However, I did come across this story yesterday about a community on the Big Island that completed a big task in a pretty traditional way.  It was pretty cool to read about and I don't think you could actually get enough people together for this anywhere else in the states...

http://reconcilable-differences.com/2010/10/24/you-do-the-huki-puke-and-you-turn-yourself-around/

Enjoy and hope you all had a wonderful holiday!
~Katie

Waikiki

The Waikiki area is more touristy than the other areas I've explored.  Still- it offers beautiful beachs, lots of shops, the Honolulu Zoo surfboard rentals/lessons and lots of people for people watching =).  I've been over a few times now- the first for some surfing which I've already posted about.  The second time- I met up with a random group of people to play some sand volleyball.  The group is a based online, and the organizers moved here about 1.5 years ago, eventually drawing the same conclusion that I did - why aren't people playing sand volleyball all the time and all over this island???!!!  They decided to buy their own net/court set up and start a meet-up group after several months of looking for a group to join.  Thank goodness!  We had a great group and played 3v3 for several hours until it was too dark to see.  In addition to some great volleyball, another cool thing was that we all stopped playing to watch the sun set over the ocean.  Living on the east coast- I see the sun set on the mountains, so this was the first time I've seen it set on the ocean.  The other guys all live on the west coast, but still stopped to appreciate the beauty of where we are- sand, surf, coconut trees, blue water, orange/pink skies, sailboats and surfers outlined as the orange sun sank into the water.  Breath taking....
Towards the end of volleyball, a random Australian guy walked up and asked to play with us.  He trains as a semi-professional sand volleyball player down-under so was quite good as well as pretty good looking, complete with Australian accent.  However, I had to stifle a laugh when he introduced himself..."Hello!  My name's Bruce."  I've just seen Finding Nemo too many times, and wanted to say- "Hello, Bruce!  Tell me, do you eat fish?"
Third trip over to Wakiki was for Halloween!  Leslie and I met up with Jill and Tony to walk around the main strip and take in all the costumes.  The sidewalks, restaurants and bars were packed with people enjoying this random American holiday where we pretend to be something we are not.  Some of the best costumes (other than our own of course!!) included:
-a guy with a large piece of cardboard behind him tacked with bed sheets and a pillow behind his head- pretending to be sleeping while standing up
-an amazing dragon type costume w/ make-up - pretty scary!
-pippi-longstocking, complete with monkey
-fast-food characters (Jack, Ronald, Burger King, Wendy, Hamburgler)
-an amazing Dorothy and Scarecrow duo- looked straight from the movie
-guy dressed up as Heath Ledger's 'Joker' when he dressed up as a nurse in the movie- kind of double costume
-4 people with immaculate black and white costumes that were very theatrical- I think it's probably from a specific play or work of art as it seems familiar but can't place it...
-and one of my favorites, because I'm a nerd, was a stormtrooper from Star Wars walking around with a sign that said "Free Hugs"!  I got a hug, but forgot to get a picture to share!  Hilarious...

Stylish witch, gypsy and- you guessed it- manta ray!  Hard to see the tail in this picture...

Fast food wars

An untimely new favorite book...

Ever since finishing vet school, I've found myself reading more often than I did in the years prior to starting at Tufts.  Perhaps its because now I get to pick what I want to read rather than being forced to read on a certain topic.  Or maybe that I read so much on a weekly basis in school that my mind expects some sort of substitute now that that particular source of literature is no longer requisite.  Part of it certainly has stemmed from working strange hours, so that in my time off from work- no one else might be awake or off from work to engage in other 'normal' activities.  This is actually the case as I write this entry- it's midnight in Hawaii, I just finished a great book and am wide awake while the rest of Kailua is sleeping.  Well, there's probably a few people at the bar- but it's unlikely that they want to hear about the book I just read...so now you get to!
Probably another part of the influence in my reading more over the last 1.5 years is my former MD roomie, Alicia- who somehow manages to work full time, go to school for her master's degree, train for a marathon, volunteer at a counseling center and help lead various aspects of her local church as well.  These all come with various required or inspiring reading materials which she manages to plow through and still somehow read a new book for fun just about every week (obviously, the kindle was invented for her).  So just about once a week, I got a personalized book review from a very well read source who just so happens to have several similar tastes for life as I do.  You might as well tell me where to find the best ice cream in town...which so far in Hawaii- is the Kona coffee ice cream at the farmer's market by the way, in case you were on the fence about coming...

Anyhow, onto the book.

The book of feature is Bill Bryson's "A walk in the woods."  I finished the book in just over 1 week, which is probably the fastest I have ever read any book written for adults (I can generally get through Green Eggs and Ham a little faster...).  It is definitely in my top 5 favorite books, and at the moment I think it is only trumped by Douglas Adams' "Hitchhikers Guide" series.  I have seen the featured title in bookstores and libraries for the last few years, often in the sections of "Employee top picks" or something similar- but tend to generally discount these sections since it is often swayed by whatever is popular media at the time as well.  For instance- when they started filming for "The time traveller's wife" or when "Wicked" became a musical- only then did I see these books move to the front of stores and to the top of best seller lists, despite having read them years before.  As a side note- I recommend seeing the musical version of Wicked rather than reading the book, which is not often the case!

Part of me also probably avoided the book because of it's topic- hiking the Appalachian Trail.  Not because I have no interest in the topic, but more on the contrary that I have a great interest in the topic but neither the finances or time to undertake such a task at this time in my life.  Also because I wasn't sure how much one could write or therefore read about hiking, it's much more of a personal experience than what I could put into words.  How can you describe adequately how amazing it is to sit on a mountaintop in complete silence and see the earth stretch out for miles and miles below?  How can you relate how funny it was when you dropped the last part of your granola bar off a boulder and hit some hiker below you?  I didn't think you could- especially not a whole book or trail's worth, not even a picture can do these memories justice sometimes.  The good news is that Bryson generally doesn't try to do this, and when he does- he's fantastic at it!

So after just joining the local library branch last week, and searching for travel guide books for my new island home- I stumbled across this book about the east coast mountain range I just left.  And hence it strangely became the first book I checked out in Hawaii.  Most of the book is about the trials and tribulations of 2 middle-aged guys who randomly decide to hike the AT.  Basically, it's about how hard it is, the people you meet along the way and the changes in terrain and culture en route northward.  All this told from a sarcastic and well traveled British viewpoint, which sums up to be a hilarious adventure.

Perhaps others won't find this book quite as entertaining as I did for the reason that the book also visits several areas that I have visited or hiked in real life.  From hiking in the Smokey Mountains, through Shenandoah, upwards to the Berkshires and the White Mountains- I've always loved the Appalachians and it was neat to remember my journeys there in comparison to the authors.  The author also spends a good portion of the book recalling historical and current (in 1996) events along the trail-side towns.  This adds a cool element to the book as you begin to understand all that the AT was formed from and all that it has endured.  The journey from south to north along the AT also reflects my own journey- moving from southwest Virginia up to eastern Pennsylvania and then up to Massachusetts.  The author makes several observations about the changes in towns and culture along this route, most of which I've encountered in some variety or other.  Of course the untimely part of this all is that now I live several thousand miles away from the AT, and will have to wait a little longer to continue my own experiences there.

The AT

In short- if you enjoy hiking, sarcasm, history, live on the east coast or are just looking for a new book to read- I highly recommend this one.
Take a look, it's in a book, it's reading from the rainbow state...and now it's time for bed because that's just corny...