MAUKA | Toward the mountain

I know that this is only one of many hikes I will do here, but this was definitely one for the books. Believe it or not, this hike was only about a half a mile. I guess it depends on the trail you follow and where you start, but still, not that bad huh? Not to mention the view you get at the top makes it that much better. The hike is called Crouching Lion. Why? Well I'm actually not sure, I might have to look it up and get back to you.

It's not an easy trailhead to find. First we had to catch the bus, which is actually much harder than you would probably think. We missed the first one, but only by a hard sprint, and that's not something you will catch me doing anytime soon. ;) We decided that instead of sitting at the bus stop for another thirty minutes while we waited for the next one, that we would spend that time doing something more exciting... McDonalds. Yes I know, not the healthiest option, but have you tried their pineapple smoothie? We did eventually catch the bus, and it dropped us off just a little ways from the "trailhead."(pictured below) I guess we may have taken a strange way, and I'm sure there is a much safer, much more obvious trailhead to find, but we decided this would work just fine. Despite what the signs said.. you already know we walked right in between them and started our climb up the mountain.

Every time we stopped to catch our breath or get a drink of water we thought the view couldn't get any better.. But we were wrong! I took this picture about halfway up while we were still in the middle of a forest of trees. Now that's impressive. Hawaii continues to outdo itself and has yet to let me down.

Once you get to the clearing at the top there are even more trails you can take to get to peaks or other points. But there is a space where you can see both sides of the mountain you're standing on. Honestly there isn't a direction you can look where you will be disappointed or anything less than mesmerized. This was by far one of the most rewarding hikes I've done, even though it wasn't a very long one. I would reccommend this to anyone ready to climb a steep mountain, and get a great reward. :)

If you are big into hiking like I am, you may have heard of this already, but if you haven't, there is an app called AllTrails. This app will tell you about any hike or trail near any location you enter in. It gives you the length and the difficulty, and any extra information. People even write reviews leaving you with all the information you need. If you are as indecisive, and have as many good trails to choose from as I do, this is very very helpful. It will also direct you to the trail head and all the way through to make sure you don't get lost.