Koko Head

Hi. What did you do with your Saturday morning? I got up at 6am, went to Koko Head with Joe and couple of friends and we climbed that mountain. At 7am. Done by 9am and eating burgers for breakfast by 10:30am. I know you are asking, "Why is this news? Haven't you guys climbed plenty of mountains since you've been in Hawaii? We've all seen the pictures; this isn't your first mountain."

You are correct, gentle reader. This wasn't the first hike. This wasn't our longest hike.  It won't be the last hike either. It was the hardest. Koko Head has about 1100 steps to the top which are really an abandoned military railroad track used to transport supplies to soldiers at a lookout on the peak. That means it is dusty, uneven and hard on the knees. I was asked yesterday by a friend who was not with us how it was. My reply: awful/beautiful depending on whether you are asking my knees or my eyes.

Am I glad we scaled Koko Head? Yes. Will we ever do it again? Not likely. On the way up an 8 yr old girl with her iphone in one hand, water bottle in the other, headphones in her ears, trekked right by us as if she does this climb every morning and it's no big thing. Reaching the top I realized that maybe she does, because she was with a group of adults who were circuit training at the top. They climbed a mountain to work out some more and then climb down. *shudder*

Anyway, here are some pictures from our early morning hike:

They aren't kidding

The beginning of the trek

View from the bottom

Pausing half-way up and looking around

Still a bit to go!

The reward at the top

Victorious at the top!