Hiking, Hawaii & Trail Shoes

I'm so happy, today I finally broke in my trail shoes! I bought these trail shoes about two months ago after a Girl's Day night hike on Lanikai ridge with my friends Lisa and Mia. I haven't been hiking since I was 10, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed hiking. It was a great way to get some exercise and see our beautiful island... after all, we live in paradise right? So ever since I bought those trail shoes I had been looking forward to my next hiking adventure... which never happened. That is, until today. My friend Jeff does a lot of hiking and actually went on a hike the day before. He planned a hike today at Morgan's Corner, or where the Old Pali Road used to be, which he categorized as "easy" and said had a waterfall at the end of the hike. (Earlier in the week I made a special request that the hike be "easy.")

View of Kaneohe

It started off with us driving over the Pali... it was looking pretty gloomy so I wondered whether we were going to get rained on, but once we got to the windward side it appeared sunny. Our hike started up as a walk up and down along this paved, curvy path, which eventually turned into a paved, curvy, mossy path. Because the path was damp and mossy from the usual mauka or mountain showers, it was a little slippery and I started to walk more cautiously, not wanting to slip and fall. We then took a detour to a trail that was off the paved mossy path. Although the trail was muddy and slippery the rocks and man-made steps made it easier to walk up and down the path.


About 30 minutes into the trail, my guide/friend Jeff said, "this doesn't look familiar" - those were words that a person being led would not want to hear. I have to admit, at that point my confidence in Jeff's hiking-guide abilities went from "completely confident" to "somewhat confident" haha... Anyway, shortly after Jeff made that comment, we bumped into another couple who were looking through their hiking guide book and appeared to be lost as well, so Jeff was kind enough to offer them to follow us to find the waterfall. They followed us for about 30 feet then they disappeared. Where they went, who knows.


5-10 minutes of backtracking later, we found the trail and got to the waterfall. WE MADE IT!!! My confidence in Jeff went back to "completely confident." haha. The waterfall was beautiful, however, in order to see the view of Kaneohe, I had to cross over these rocks that peaked out of the streaming water. Great. Crossing over the rocks I seriously felt like "Frogger" strategically trying to hop from one rock to another to get to the other side. Once I got to the other side though, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief that 1) I didn't slip and fall and 2) I got to look at the awesome view of Kaneohe. I was happy and felt accomplished. After hanging around there for about 20-30 minutes we made our way back, which was way easier than the hike up.


It was a great hike on a beautiful day. Even though I have lived on this island all of my life, I never knew this trail/waterfall existed until today. Hiking today has made me realize how amazing it is that people travel halfway across the world to see these sights of Hawaii and I that I have taken this for granted way too long. From now on, I am going to make it a point to experience the scenes Hawaii has to offer. Thanks Jeff! I got some exercise, saw another part of Hawaii and got to break in my trail shoes!