Thanksgiving has passed. Wednesday was spent cooking for most of the day. Thursday was spent eating. Friday morning I woke up at 130 and went shopping for Black Friday. I came back at 4, slept until the boys woke me up, and then we went out again around 730 for more shopping.
Saturday should have been a day of rest. However, we went out looking for something new. We’d seen the falls. The North Shore. The Leeward Side. The Windward Side. So we went driving around our own back yard: Mount Tantalus.
We are living on Punchbowl, so Tantalus is very close. We drove up Tantalus Drive, and the temperature went from about 80 or so to probably about 74 at the top of the mountain. Tantulus turns into Round Top Drive, and coming back down on the other side of that is Puu Uakalaa, where there is a panoramic view of Honolulu and Diamond Head. It’s breathtaking. We stayed for a few minutes, but we were really looking for the trails. So we jumped in the car and went searching some more.
We found a cluster of cars parked on Round Top, so we stopped there and took the trail going up: Manoa Cliffs Trail. It has a hazardous cliff sign, warning hikers that the ground may break off from underneath, injuring or killing hikers. We were not daunted. We walked, picking up several guavas (we saw hundreds and hundreds of beautiful, delicious, juicy guavas) and taking in the sights.
We were walking for some time, and not really sure where the path was leading, because we didn’t do our research very well before heading out. But we pressed on. Rounding one of the corners of the cliffs, we could see a cascade across the valley. I’m not sure, but I think it might have been Sacred Falls. (I haven’t ever seen it, nor have I been there, because it was closed after a tragic landslide took the lives of several people and injured dozens more in 1999.) There were two broken sides of that mountain that we could see, so it looked like there had been some fresh landslides over there, which made me a little nervous about our hike.
We entered into the watershed conservation area, and crossed over onto another trail, the Puu O’hia trail. We took that up to an electrical tower, where we had another pretty great panoramic view of the city from a little higher. Puu Uakalaa, for me, was still the better one, though.
We came back down and continued along the trail for another several minutes. A fellow hiker had given us directions and let us know we were pretty close to our parking area. A good thing, since it was about an hour until dusk.
We finally hit Round Top Drive, and found the same hiker still hanging around his truck. He asked if we needed a ride, but happily gave us further directions when we declined. We walked back down Round Top, picking up more guavas (and we even found two avocados! Score!) along the way, until we found the car.
It was a nice, relatively easy hike. It was a little longer than we anticipated, and there were not many signs telling mileage or connection points to other trails or roads. Water is recommended, and a snack, although you are sure to find a healthy supply of guavas if need be. Definitely put on the bug spray! I didn’t realize I was getting bit until after I was in the car, so at least I was comfortable during the walk itself, unlike Manoa Falls, where a swarm just hovered around me the entire time, completely ignoring the repellent.
All in all, our experience was good, and we plan to go back and check out the other trails!
