Hiking is one of the many pasttimes that Sue and I enjoy doing together and climbing Diamond Head is something we had been planning since the very inception of this trip. It's a fairly reasonable hike, almost a mile in length and about 750 feet of elevation.
Every guide book suggests getting an early start to avoid the heat of day, since the inside of the crater, where the trail is, is a desert environment. There's a little bit of wind at various points, but mostly it's an arid climb. Our path would be a little longer than most, since we don't have a car and the entrance to the trailhead is on the back side of the crater.
We prepared ahead of time by freezing some bottles of water and making a couple of turkey sandwiches. So when the day of the hike came, we were off at the crack of noon heading up Diamond Head Road (we've definitely adapted to local time). The walk to the entrance was fine; a cool wind in our faces and a moderate climb. We'd pause at each bus stop to see if the #14 was coming. It past us as we crested the top of the hill. We marched around to the back side, paid our $1 entrance fee, and stopped for lunch before beginning the trek.
The actual hike is hot, but not difficult. There were people running up to the top, a woman in hiking gear with a small child in her backpack, and the requisite Japanese tourists in flipflops smoking cigarettes. The view is the whole point of the trip and it really is nice. All of Waikiki and Honolulu on one side, and Kahala and Kokohead stretching out in the other.
Hiking is one of the many pasttimes that Sue and I enjoy doing together and climbing Diamond Head is something we had been planning since the very inception of this trip. It's a fairly reasonable hike, almost a mile in length and about 750 feet of elevation.
Every guide book suggests getting an early start to avoid the heat of day, since the inside of the crater, where the trail is, is a desert environment. There's a little bit of wind at various points, but mostly it's an arid climb. Our path would be a little longer than most, since we don't have a car and the entrance to the trailhead is on the back side of the crater.
We prepared ahead of time by freezing some bottles of water and making a couple of turkey sandwiches. So when the day of the hike came, we were off at the crack of noon heading up Diamond Head Road (we've definitely adapted to local time). The walk to the entrance was fine; a cool wind in our faces and a moderate climb. We'd pause at each bus stop to see if the #14 was coming. It past us as we crested the top of the hill. We marched around to the back side, paid our $1 entrance fee, and stopped for lunch before beginning the trek.
The actual hike is hot, but not difficult. There were people running up to the top, a woman in hiking gear with a small child in her backpack, and the requisite Japanese tourists in flipflops smoking cigarettes. The view is the whole point of the trip and it really is nice. All of Waikiki and Honolulu on one side, and Kahala and Kokohead stretching out in the other.
2 comments:
Thanks for the pictures... they are fabulous... see, you can do the tourist thing with a camera, I knew it !!!
Usually the pictures are Sue's. When we're outdoors I can never actually see anything in the viewfinder, so I just point in the general direction of something scenic and hope for the best.
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