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.