The Neverending Hike

Today I hiked the 9.3 mile Maunawilli Trail. (Not to be confused with the Maunawilli Falls Trail)

The trail starts at the Pali Highway lookout just past Kamehameha Hwy

A fun water tank on the trail

View of the 3 Peaks aka Olomana

FYI: Olomana means "Divided Hill" and according to Wikipedia 

" Olomana was a giant warrior who ruled the lands on the Windward side of Oahu fromKualoa to Makapu'u. During this timeʻAhuapau, the king of Oahu sent the great warrior Palila to battle Olomana, subsequently cutting Olomana in half. His upper torso was said to be in the Pacific Ocean near Kāneʻohe Bay leaving his lower half where Mount Olomana is today."

This path is used by mountain bikers & runners. 

But the terrain varies and there are a couple fallen trees in the path. 

View of the Koolau Ridge. This trail hugs and loops around the side of the mountain. Lots of cloud cover today

Feeling Badass as I tackle this new hike and the challenge of having no idea Where this trail ends or how long it will take!

Trees!!!

Eucalyptus and a Pine tree 

Koolau and my new fascination with all things Fugi 

The trail is also Heavily used by the wild boar in the area. Tracks everywhere!!!

There were moments when the amount of tracks increased and the jungle was particular dark that I had PTSD flashbacks of my time lost in Kauai. So I resorted to my motto of "Carry Big Stick and Sing Loudly" 

Parts of Lost World (the 2nd Jurassic Park movie were filmed on this trail) lemme tell you it Felt like it!!!

One of the most unique Flora I've found yet on a hike!!

The hum of bees could be heard from the canopy of blossoms above. The hum completely surrounded and was a constant background noise admidst the calls of the birds. One bird had its own take on the "nana na nanana" which I of course tried to imitate and almost mastered :)

This is the root of a type of Palm tree but more like a giant fern

Some wild Strawberry Guava fruits. Yummy but sadly one of the most invasive trees in Hawaii http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/topics/biocontrol/strawberryguava/strawberry_guava.shtml

Each loop takes me closer to Waimanalo... Will I ever get to the end??

More Koolau Ridge

Panoramic Views

I can see Rabbit Island from here!!

Finally made it to Waimanalo!!!

...But there were so many splits off the trail and none were marked. Only signs saying:

Thanks trail master....so I ended up following one horse trail that forked off onto other horse roads which then looped me back toward Maunawilli...

 I did find the Big Tree from Harry Potter!!!

after my legs were well depleted and aching to rest, I stumbled onto hole 9 at the Royal Hawaiian Golf Course!! A multimillion dollar course that encompasses acres of prime real estate in Kailua. Wearily I walked half the course  to get to a public road and hoped I wouldn't get yelled at for being on private property!

Thankfully my parents were only a phone call away and they gave me a ride to where I had parked my car! Overall I think it was about a 14mile hike and in about 6 hours. Whew!! What a hike!! Can't wait to try it again and see if I can find the actual end of the trail.