Alakai Swampee

One of the coolest hikes (in my opinion) we have done while we have lived here was the Alakai Swamp Trail.  I think it's about 3 miles each way, but you go through all kinds of terrain (i.e., forest, rain forest, swamp, etc.). For the majority of the hike they have a boardwalk that you hike on (I can't imagine having to be the person to put the boards down...it most def would've been a pain).

Here we are at the start of the official trail...i'm obviously really cool hanging from a tree (thats a joke, btw).  We hiked with some friends who are pretty much professional trail runners (ok, not really, but they are avid hikers/marathon runners, so they might as well be professionals), so of course, Kai and I were scrambling to keep up :) 

Here we are going down the stairs...they were easy going down, but coming back up was HARD!  If I were in the front, I would've stopped so many times to rest, but Lena was leading, so we powered up the whole thing!

This is the end of the hike.  The bottom picture is the view from the lookout spot, but of course, when we got there, there was tons of fog and we couldn't see a thing!  We waited for about 30 mins, but nothing cleared up, so we headed back.  Guess i'll have to cross my fingers that next time we will see the view.

 

The weather changed so much during the hike.  We hiked through swamps and it was so foggy that you couldn't see too far in front of you, and then we made it through the clouds, and the sky was super blue!

Also, did I mention Kai brought the machete my dad gave him?  I was making fun of him at first, but his excuse was that he was going to do 'trail maintenance'.  So, as we are walking, I can hear him swinging away at the overgrown branches. 

Of course, after a little coaxing, I decided to take a turn, and it was actually really fun!  I think I was actually better at using the machete than Kai...must be my Samoan side!  Haha!  (see the before and after pictures above...i'm a nerd!)

 

On the way out, we stopped at the Puu Hinahina lookout.  When we got there, there were 2 tourist guys with nice cameras on tripods who were standing there doing nothing.  Anyways, we asked if one of them would mind taking a picture of us, and they were sooo annoyed!  Seriously, they weren't even really nice, but oh well, I got my picture :)

AAAANDD, to finish off our day, we stopped at Pakalas, so Kai could surf.  While I was waiting, I got this sunset pic!  I will admit, I often miss having the hustle and bustle of LA (food, shopping, friends, etc.), but then you see these pictures and you realize how lucky we are to be here!