Koko Crater Hike from Hell

Today will be a day of both work and fun, I plan to mix into my workday a bit of hiking adventure. Not far from home there's an interesting hike that'll take me to the top of the steep southern slope of Koko Crater, an impressive volcanic tuff cone that dominates the southern reaches of Oahu. The peak is my destination, Kohelepelepe (or Puu Mai), which rises a lofty 1,208 feet.

To facilitate my work/hike venue, I jump on the bus and head to the Starbucks closest to the hike's trail head. Looking at my map, from work to fun will take about a 15 minutes walk. I arrive at Starbucks and work a good 5 hours straight. Before leaving, I chat up a fellow coffee drinker who's been working nearby for the last hour or so. Turns out he's a day trader, he regales events of the past few months, about getting spanked by the market and losing a load of money. Before he goes he shows me on his laptop complicated graphs depicting real-time stock trades and trends. How he stares at this information 8-12 hours a day, trying to predict the market, is a mystery to me.

Enough about financial stocks, it's time to put stock in my sneakers and head out for my hike. As you can see, folks living in the area have the crater literally in their back yards. What I see as I walk to the trail head isn't really the crater, it's the southern slope of the crater, the crater is nestled inside over the high slope. When I first saw the slope I thought it was a mountain, funny how first impressions can sometimes be completely wrong. You can see the thin thread of the trail as it shoots up the slope. From this vantage point it doesn't look so hard. Could this first impression of mine be wrong? I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I think I'm ready for the hike, I've replaced my flip-flops (called "slippers" in Hawaii) with sneakers and brought along something to drink. I'm in pretty good shape, I watch what I eat, and try to get adequate sleep. It's a nice, sunny day. I'm all jacked up on Starbucks coffee. What could possibly go wrong? This hike is going to be a piece of cake, a small and insignificant notch on my Hawaiian hiking belt. Let the games begin!!!



Starting out the hike seems pretty easy. The trail itself isn't a simple dirt path, rather, it's an old, abandon railroad track. There's an old, retired military bunker up there. To transport personnel and supplies up the slope they built this railroad, they probably used a winch system to pull up the cars. Today, the track is slowly being absorbed by nature. Rusty and rotted, it still has enough integrity to support hikers, you just have to watch your footing.
From bottom to top a hiker will traverse more than 1,000 railroad ties (or steps). The slope varies from not too bad to somewhat steep. The "not too bad" slope greets me at the start where I begin at a quick, steady pace. Not too far up the slope I can start to feel my heart beating. Maybe I'm not in the shape I thought I was? Onward and upward I continue. To help conserve my energy reserve, I slow down my pace. That should do the trick, surely I won't have to periodically stop to catch my breath. Heck, I can see the top/end of the trail, how could I possibly run out of steam?


I'm getting a little hot now, I notice there isn't a lick of breeze to speak of, I think it's because I'm on the leeward side for the crater? Throw on top of that a temperature of around 80 degrees and a natural propensity to sweat at the drop of a hat. Glad I brought some water. I continue to slog along, my pace steadily slows as the incline steadily rises, and with each and every upward step I grow more fatigued, someone has pushed a thumbtack into my balloon of energy. Oh wait, that someone is me. No on is forcing me to do this. I like to push myself physically, today is no different.

I am sorry to say sad event suddenly occurs, I stop because I'm gasping for breath. Am I truly out of shape? Or is this just a really hike hard? Sometimes I lost perspective and can't tell. There are people passing me on the trail, but maybe they are in really, really good shape. Yeah, must be it, they are probably marathon runners or perhaps some of them are in training for the Olympics. That has to be it. Self-delusion isn't always a bad thing.

After a shameful series of activity followed by ever increasing periods of non-activity (aka bending over and gasping), I finally make it to the top of Koko Crater's southern slope. It is here I'm rewarded with an unimpeded 360 degree view. At the top I feel a much welcomed breeze which makes quick work of cooling me down. The hike up was a really hard one, but, in the end, the reward outweighs the effort required to get up here. So it seems I've come out ahead in this little hiking transaction of mine, and for that I am happy.





I spend a little time soaking up the views before going back down. At the top I make the acquaintance of a couple. She's a native and he moved to Oahu nearly 20 years ago. I inquire about hikes on Oahu and he shares with me a few of his favorites. When I ask about hikes on the other Hawaiian islands, he tells me he's never traveled to the other islands. Wow, I find that a little shocking, considering I've heard repeatedly that the other islands are different enough to warrant investigation. Oh well...

The time has finally arrived to head back down. As I begin my descent I notice my legs are a bit shaky, so I take my time, I don't want to trip and have an incident. Spending the rest of my time here in Hawaii in a leg cast isn't in my best interest. Thanks to gravity, the way down proves to be far speedier than they way up, and far less sweaty too!



I finish up my hike and wait for the bus to take me back to Waikiki. While waiting I make the best of my time and take some pictures of the surrounding colorful flora.

The bus finally arrives and takes me back to Waikiki, where my day winds down into nothing worth talking about. So on that note I bid you good evening.