Day 13- Hiking the Wiliwilinui Trail

Finally a hike day for us.  We decided to do our first ridge trail hike in Oahu, Wiliwilinui Trail.  I write another blog about hiking, so if you want to read the details check out my hikergal blog at http://cthikergal.com/2013/07/27/wiliwilinui-trailoahu/

A few items to note to visitors that aren’t seasoned hikers:
1.  Wear hiking shoes or trail runners, sneakers won’t cut it on the slick mud sections.
2.  Wear long pants, the ulule fern or razor fern will slice you.
3. If you are short like me, long sleeves would be advised in those ferns
4.  If you have a hiking pole, bring it use it, helps on going down
5. Bring water

The hike starts off in a residential neighborhood, first part is easy, with good little views out to Honolulu.

And then we came to the point, where I stopped and went we are going up there? Oh no…

We trudge on and the wide road changes to a narrow path, lined by ferns.

Did I mention stairs?  Yup we had to go up many steps.  The rise on a few were so high up, I had to kneel on them to get up it.

And did I mention ropes?  They helped tremendously.

What I thought was the goal, at the radio/tv towers wasn’t.  It was the next little bump.

We make it to our destination and the views were amazing.

After a brief break at the top, it was time to head down.  I was a little nervous at first, but it was way more fun going down than up.

We survived, or rather I survived.  It took us 4 hours, to go 4.6 miles with an elevation gain of 1500 feet.

So what do you do after this kind of hike? First find the nearest McDonalds to use the bathroom.  Sorry ladies but trails on Oahu are not the easiest to pee on, no cover.

Next stop at VJs Butcher shop, we need meat and ice cream sandwiches.  No pictures of the sandwiches, we gobbled them down.

Came home, hit the water to float and relax all the aching muscles.  Then it was time to eat.

Mother Nature gave us a little gift of a rainbow after dinner.

Finally it was sunset.  It was lackluster, but the after hours showing was spectacular. What a day.  The hike was amazing, though a bit scary at times for me, but I am so happy I did it for the views and yeah I had fun.