Can you see the person in the orange shirt?

What gamble did we take today? Did we hike up there, on that narrow trail in that picture?  No,  we aren’t that crazy kind of gamblers. So what did  we do? We hiked with  a person I meet on the internet this morning.

As were trying to decide what hike to do, I checked my hiking facebook groups, seeing where people were hiking or had hiked in Oahu.  In one of the groups, MD asked if anyone was hiking today. After seeing what I could on her facebook page, I responded we were hiking and where, she was more than welcome to join us.  We were going to hike to Likeke Falls.

I’ve never done that before, but took a gamble that she would be normal, our hiking styles would be compatible and it would not be awkward.  I knew if I was checking her out, she was checking us out.

We meet at the Pali Lookout. MD with her little guy on her back and us over prepared to hike.  White Mountain hiking has taught us to be very prepared on the trail, so we carry that over to hiking in Hawaii.  We made our way down the old abandoned road, chatting as we went along, learning about each other.

The views were amazing look off in to the distance.

The road was slightly damp and at times slippery.  We had to be careful not to slide.

We had to go under the existing road and artwork adorned the highway.

After we crossed the golf course parking lot, we entered a jungle like area, full of great plant life and huge ginger plants that assaulted the nose with the most beautiful fragrance.

weaving in and out of the hau tangle

We reached the falls quickly and it was flowing very nicely.

Thank you MD for taking one of the photos that will make our Christmas card this year

Opposite the falls was a little lookout.

We had a quick turn around time and headed out.  This turned into a lollipop hike.  We looped out,  continuing in the forest.

We then returned to the overpass, we had to squeeze under, to reach the ladder to climb back to the old road.

Back to the road that made the stick of our lollipop hike.

Again the views were wonderful on the way out.

The hike went by so quickly. I couldn’t believe  we finished already.  We were happy to have MD with us, she helped us navigate the trail, as she has hiked her before and she was great company.

The hike was an hour 45 minutes, 3.5 miles with average speed of 2.0mph.  I think we got a good workout in.

We parted ways and we headed to the  North Shore, home.  We wanted to get to VJs Butcher Shop early in the day, as we wanted to get prime meat choices on the meat that had just arrived the day before.  We picked up some fresh Ahi, a roaster chicken and steak tri tips.  I also needed ice cream, every good hike deserves some ice cream.  VJs carries homemade ice cream sandwiches.  I purchased their last lilikoi one.  I gulped that baby down in seconds flat (Mike had one bite).

Lilikoi ice cream with two sugar cookies. The best ice cream sandwich of my life

Next stop, we needed lunch. I know I had dessert first but I was still hungry.  We decided to give Nui Thai Food truck a shot, another gamble.  A local was placing her order in front of us and she raved about the food.  If the locals eat there, it has to be good authentic food.  We were not disappointed, Mike had the papaya salad and I had two spring rolls.  We had one last stop, Waialua Fresh for some fresh greens and a sauce for the fish.  At home we sat outside and ate our delicious lunch.

As we ate, the turtles were also eating. We had five turtles at the ocean food trough, to the right of us.

if you enlarge the picture you can see one of the turtle shells.

I had to go nap after this morning.  I couldn’t believe how tired I was.  While I napped, Mike read hiking books.

We cooked up dinner of the fresh ahi and I made a bed of coleslaw to place it on.  Nothing better than fresh ahi.

We enjoyed an after dinner stroll, to keep the muscles from tightening up.  We are staying on a beautiful beach that goes for miles with very few people on it.

We watched the sunset, but the colors weren’t dazzling, so Mike was taking his unusual artsy photos tonight. He was able to capture the palm tress on my sunglasses.

It was a really good day.  I am so happy I took a chance on answering MD’s query on that hiking group.  It definitely was a gamble that paid off big time.