Saturday morning we slept in a little and got ready a little late. We hit the trail to the north Ko'olau's around noon. Going up the trail we saw plenty people of all ages. Families hiking and enjoying the trails is a good thing! We passed the junction to the waterfalls and pushed on to the summit. The summit was clear. We could see the Waianae's in the distance and Laie point on the other side. We enjoyed a thirty minute break and pushed on towards the cabin.
We followed the winding on the rolling hills of the north KST, unlike the up's and down's on the town side. We came across a few meadows and bogs. I remember most of it but there were some parts of the hike where I had to remember where to go even though it was fairly straight forward.
The trail keeps meandering and soon you were well into the mountains with no sight of houses or anything man made. You get surrounded by lots and lots of plants, also mud. We trekked further in shin deep mud and came across a fence line. I totally remember following this fence but I didn't remember for how long. This day it seemed like an eternity till we hit our cabin.
Following the fence line you can see in it that they were protecting lots of native plants. They used the fence to fence in pigs and goats. They set up traps to capture them and kill them so they don't spread any more non native plants. I believe that they are working to save what little they have left of native plants here.
We hit the cabin just before sunset. We were happy to take off our muddy shoes and pants and change into some cleaner clothes. I went exploring to find a place to watch the sunset and sunrise. Katie soon joined me to take a few pictures above the cabin, we saw the sun but it didn't go down yet. The weather was windy and the temperature was dropping fast. We decided to head to the warmth of the cabin and watch it from the dining room. We ate dinner which was nuts chocolate and some spam musubi's. We both were so happy to be with each other even though we weren't eating at a high class restaurant chowing down on an expensive meal. After dinner we relaxed and listened and watch as the world turn dark around us.
Throughout the night we both had a difficult time sleeping. It was an eerie feeling being alone in there. I fell asleep first while Katie enjoyed her book by headlamp. She fell asleep soon after but we both were awoken by torrential rains and nuking winds. We were thankful that we were in the cabin, nice and dry though. Through out the night the rain continued.
In the morning the winds calmed down but the rain just wouldn't stop. Clouds rolled in and out near the cabins and it was still cold. We decided to eat some food and chill until the weather warmed up a little. We didn't bring a stove so not hot food was on the menu. We ate some peanut butter jelly sandwiches and munched on some left over trail mix. The weather didn't warm up much so we decided to put on our big boy pants and brave the weather. Slipping on wet muddy boots and muddy pants was quite fun. We bundled up putting on some jackets and slipping on our rain covers over our packs. By 8 am we were out the door.
After 10 minutes on the trail the weather cleared up and it was just high overcast clouds. The trail out was quicker than the way in because we weren't dodging big mud puddles, instead stepping dead center in them not caring! We hit the bog and just above it was a flat grassy knoll where there used to be a helicopter pad. I believe there used to be an old cabin here as well but it's long gone now. We had a clear view of the Waianae's and stopped for a good hour here to eat and take pictures. It was our million dollar view. After soaking that all in we decided to explore a side trail a little. We went 45 minutes down a side trail to see if it'll connect back up to the KST but it didn't and we had to turn around.
We hit the summit of Laie and headed back down the way we came. We juggled with the idea to stop for water since we didn't get a refill but I had enough water to get us both down. We got back to the car and made for Papa Ole's for lunch!
Heading up the trail.
Almost to the summit.
Looking around a forest. Sucks that there is so much invasives
At the summit checking out the rolling hills of the Ko'olau's
Katie contours a section on the KST.
I take more notice to plants now, more than I did before. Notice how blood red this flower is. When I see this flower on other trails it isn't as dark as it's pictured above
Happy 7 months babe!
Sunset above the cabin.
Home sweet home.
Notice the spam musubi's.
From the porch.
Next mornings sunrise.
Lucky guy!
Million dollar view!
Our packs for an over nighter.
Making our way down through some cook pines.
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