The Road to Bree

pu'u ma'eli'eli is a 1.5 mile round trip hike that ends at a small summit that overlooks all of Kaneohe Bay. A good view of Chinaman's hat, MCBH, and Coconut Island. 

Needing a somewhat short hike. I consulted the ever trustworthy Yelp to discover something fun & new. For directions read Grace N's review http://m.yelp.com/biz/puu-maelieli-digging-hill-kaneohe

With much stopping to take pictures and think. It still only took me about 45mins to reach the end and a light jog got me back in about 25 mins

A beautiful day in the valley of temples as I park on Hui Iwa Street

The oh so glorious trailhead

Lots of orchids at the beginning. I'd Love to see it at their peek bloom. 

And then a taste of ferngully 

New flora unknown to me... Beautiful 

As an amature tracker, these prints baffle my imagination... What made them? They were everywhere!

What I love most about this trail was how peaceful & serene it was. Birds chirping, wind blowing gently through the trees, and the occasional butterfly. 

View of coconut island (aka Gilligan's Island) where the tv show was filmed. 

Every hike, I fall in love with trees all over again... This one was so tall and had the most goregeous blossoms way up top

As the title of this blog suggests. This trail reminded me of Lord of the Rings excessively, specifically the Road the hobbits took to Bree. 

This little lizard was so close to making it. #ODT

View from 1st bunker

It's completely underground and unless you want to die, I wouldn't recommend climbing down. It looked super sketch. 

Approaching view from 2nd WWII bunker. Breathtaking!!

North Kaneohe Bay & Chinaman's Hat

#Panoramic #hilife

Selfie time!!!

Shout out to KBase and my boyfriend... It takes a strong woman to love a strong man!

Artsy side profile...

Cute graffiti 

For the perfect feet pose

Candid shot on way down...jogged most of the way so no more pics of the  trail. 

But I would highly recommend cooling off at Rainbow Seed Crack #delish

Mango Shaved Icecream with Lihing powder #yum

*thanks for checking out my blog!!!!

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.