Our Worst Idea Yet (Or was it?)

Yesterday we went hiking in the Palolo Valley, not far from our house. It was beautiful, jungle-y and the weather was great, except for the clouds hanging ominously over the mountains. But it's Hawaii, so it'll only sprinkle for a moment and then pass us over, right? WRONG.

The first part of the hike was fine and I saw some awesome trees and plants.

Super cool tree

I love the way the branches twist on these trees

Cloudy in the valley

 

We spotted some interesting wildlife along the way. We encountered the slippah tree, a slippah bush (slippah=flip-flop for you non-Hawaiians out there), and the indigenous pipus linus, found only in the Hawaiian wilderness. See below for pictures.

One species of pipus linus in its natural habitat

This one wasn't as friendly as the others

Slippah bush of the "Sanuk" variety

Slippah tree

The razorclaw pipus linus (most aggressive of the species)

We were already well over an hour into the hike when the rain started. Barely a sprinkle at first, so Justin asked if we wanted to turn around. Everyone wanted to keep going, so we did. In the rain. And the mud. And as the rain increased, you can guess what the mud did. We did make it to the waterfall, though, and by the time we got there the rain had stopped.

We made it!

Nicole's sister, Simone, braving the waterfall

Tourist pose!

The note on what is left of someone's shoe says "Please don't slip"

On our way back from the waterfall, following our brilliant decision (that was sarcasm for those that didn't catch it) to hike in the rain, we found the trail to be much muddier than on our way out. And in some places non-existent. We are talking ankle deep mud in some places and others nothing but a slippery slope with nothing to hold onto. Joe did a lot of sliding off the side of the mountain (which panics me, by the way, so we don't hike near each other). I also took a fall, but luckily I caught myself on my bad knee. Did I say luckily? I meant to type suckily. So the rest of the hike wasn't miserable, just a little less physically comfortable. I spent the evening with a bag of frozen edamame on my knee (frozen peas also work really well).

We did develop some important rules for hiking during this adventure. At no point did we come up with a rule that involved not hiking in the rain or avoiding mud. You really can't avoid mud if you do jungle hikes in Hawaii, even on a sunny day. And jungle hikes are my favorite.

Lani's rules of hiking
1. Don't step onto nothing; it won't support your weight.
2.Don't grab onto the thorny trees and drive spikes into your hands (no one did this, because we follow the rules).
3. Mud has many uses (bug repellant, balm for stings, sunscreen, war paint, camouflage, hiding from the Predator, good for the skin-the list goes on and on)
4. Don't get cocky. That's when Hawaii decides to laugh at you.
5. Don't take the high road. The low road is always better (this has so many real life applications).
6. I can't remember rule number six, but Simone can remind me and then I'll update this.

Always follow the rules.