Friday, January 1, 2010

Waimano Valley

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by welikehike

Our traditional New Year's Day hike takes us deep in Waimano Valley. It was suppose to be a short hike, so I decided not to bring any lunch, only my leftover trail mix from the last hike. I skipped on breakfast and lunch, and we didn't finish the hike until 5 in the afternoon. Surprisingly, I wasn't hungry or thirsty, the trail mix does wonders!

The trail was nice and peaceful, a break from the strenuous hikes I got accustomed to in the previous year. The trail was well maintained and wide enough to keep our legs scratch free. When we got to the picnic table (halfway point for the 15-mile Waimano Ridge trail), we proceeded down the valley to the left rather than taking the graded trail towards the Koolau summit. As we reached the valley floor, we forded through the calm and cool stream to arrive at a delightful swimming hole at the end. The last time my friend did this hike, he mentioned that there were lots of mountain apples, guavas, strawberry guavas, and crayfish nearly the size of lobsters.