Ohana Trip #3: Big Island Wanders

For the third year in a row our Hawaiian ohana flew to another island to explore for a long weekend. The first year was Lanai, last year was Kauai, and this year we visited Hawaii. Since we had access, we chose to spend a few days at the Kiluea Military Camp in Volcano, HI (inside the national park).

KMC is a government facility that's a little dated but way cool (and way cheap!) resort style hotel. There are a bunch of cabins arrayed around a central social area. The social area has all sorts of things: a cafe, bar, game room, mini theater, tennis courts, and even a bowling alley. The best part is its proximity to Volcanoes National Park.

Unfortunately for the first day we arrived right as the sky opened up and downpoured for the next several hours. We hung out at the cabin we rented, made a bunch of food and played games. It was nice. Once it was time for Iris to go to bed, Mike, Thomas, Camille and I wandered over to the game room and played a couple of rounds of pool. As it turns out, we're all really bad, but we had a great time anyway.

The next morning was bright and beautiful. We drove the couple of miles to hike the Kiluea Iki Trail. I've done this one a few times before, but it's so cool that I'm sure I'll do it a few more. The trail is a 4 mile loop that circles the top of the crater for a half mile before dropping in. Then, hikers walk across the crater, back up the other side, and around another top section. The whole hike is STUNNING! Brad, Rachel and Iris came down to the crater but didn't finish the loop. Iris is only 18 months after all.

Thomas has a geology degree and was absolutely fascinated by the lava formations and steam vents. Camille and I spent a good amount of time checking out beautifully iridescent bits of lava rock. Mike was, as always, perfectly content to wander all over the place and climb on things. Overall, I think it took us about an hour to wander across the crater.


Afterward, we walked around the steam vents and checked out the overlook into the main Kiluea crater. This is the one that caused all of the fuss last year when it erupted. It's changed so drastically in the past year and a half. Check out this video for timelapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2BFFK_r5NU. Way freaking cool!

Later that day, we all piled into Brad and Rachel's 7 seater car and drove a couple of miles to Volcano Winery. We honestly could've walked it, but the skies decided to open up again. Less rain, but being wet in a winery just didn't sound fab. Weird how that works. The winery is a way cool little tasting room. They import almost all of their grapes, blend them and ferment them locally. I believe they have some grapes they grow there, but they're more expensive. Instead we paid $8 each for 8 tastes. It was pretty fun! We loved the first white wine they served, which was super strange because Mike doesn't like white wines.

We decided that it was a perfect night to check out the bowling alley. It was actually pretty decent. Brad and Rachel stayed for a game, which Brad won (Brad wins everything). Thomas, Camille, Mike and I played round 2. Everyone did better the second game except for me . It was fun anyway. I hadn't bowled in years.

The last morning of the trip, we were awakened by a 4.9 magnitude earthquake that happened near Mauna Kea, one of the larger volcanoes. It made the whole place jiggle for a minute. Way freaking cool! I made a ton of pancakes and we had a brunch feast. Then we parted ways. Brad really wanted to visit the botanical garden. The rest of us really wanted to visit the newly formed black sand beach at Pohiki.

We stopped at the Volcanoes National Park visitor center. I wanted to stamp my journal since I just realized in Joshua Tree that this is a thing. Seriously, I've been to six national parks this year and only managed to figure this out on numbers 5 and 6. We ended up watching a video on the collapse of the crater. It was similar to the one linked above, but longer and more extensive.

Then we drove about an hour to the coast, past the infamous Leilani Estates where big fissures opened in the earth and cars and homes were swallowed by lava. I drove through wide sections of road that had been newly constructed through recent lava fields. There were dead trees uprooted and baked stark white against the black stone.

When we arrived at the park, we were amazed to find that there was a wall of rock that blocked roads, covered sidewalks, and crumpling picnic benches. Below is a screenshot from Google Maps that hasn't yet been updated. You can see a park on the right side that is scribbled out. That no longer exists and is covered by a hugs field of lava (as shown in the pic above). Along the beach, the area between the black lines is full of black sand. There's a little dock and boat lauched there that used to go to the sea and now have only a little pond to service. CRAZY! The world's newest beach, and we got to visit it.


We walked down the beach, doing a bit of exploring and just taking in the amazingness of the whole thing. The waves were breaking pretty hard on the shore, but wanting to get my feet wet, I walked to the edge of the waves. The next wave ended up being the biggest one we'd seen. It crashed toward us and Thomas was the only one to escape. Camille, Mike and I were soaked to our waists, laughing and shrieking as we ran up the beach. (Ok, Mike wasn't shrieking.)


Brad, Rachel, and baby girl met us at the airport. I asked how the botanicals were. It turns out Iris was sick and they didn't end up going. They just puttered around Kona and got ice cream. I love both of those things, so it doesn't sound like a total loss to me. Poor baby though. It took about a week for her to heal. We boarded our plane as the sunset at the awesome tiny Kona airport. Another fabulous ohana trip!

Joshua Tree Exploring

Vacation Races strikes again! This is the company that, with their amazing video advertisement, had us running ultramarathons in Arizona back in March. Mike saw a cool video of a night time run in Joshua Tree National Park. We decided, sure, let's do it.

Eight months later, we flew into San Diego. We met my friend Melissa for breakfast then headed east to Joshua Tree. Mel and her husband were supposed to go with us to Joshua Tree, but had both come down with nasty colds. Rather than share those with us, they opted to stay behind and we planned dinner on our way back to Hawaii.

Since we had a spare bedroom in the Airbnb, I called my mom to see if she and my stepdad were free for the weekend since it's only a 3.5 hour drive to Joshua Tree from Las Vegas. They were! Yay! We beat them into Joshua Tree by a few hours. So, we went into the park to see what we could see.

The park is GORGEOUS! If you haven't noticed in my past posts, I love the subtle beauty of the desert. I enjoy all the different colors and creatures that go unnoticed at first glance. Having spent the past three years in the super-saturated landscape of Hawaii, it's really nice to go back to my desert roots occasionally.

A two lane road navigates park goers through groves of prickly joshua trees. Apparently these trees only grow about an inch per year. There are cool bouldery rock formations everywhere. The park is known for its exceptional rock climbing. However, after scrambling around on that rock for a few days, I'm not sure I'm ready to shred my skin on the rock faces. We'll have to come back and try someday.

We ended up at Hall of Horrors, which is a climbing spot. Mike took one look at the rocks and immediately decided the trail through them was boring. An hour later, we'd ditched our shoes and climbed all around the big boulders looking for views and just enjoying ourselves. The sun was starting to set, lighting all of the rocks and flora up in the most beautiful golden light.

We arrived at the Airbnb just as mom and Wayne were coming into town. We had dinner, played games and caught up. It was so nice!

The next morning we threw all of us into the rental car and drove through the park to the cholla garden. Cholla (choy-ya) are these cool cactus that grow super tall and prickly, but their bases die beneath them. The plant spreads when the base collapses and it builds up from all the points around it. There were warnings not to touch it since the barbs were near impossible to remove.

Afterward we visited the Ocotillo Patch, which is more of just a few of these woody brush trees here and there. It looks like several have died fairly recently.

Skull Rock is apparently one of the popular areas for boulder scrambling. It's named as such for the obvious reason that one of the rocks looks like a giant human skull. It also has some beautiful trails on the opposite side of the road.

Because I heard it was awesome, we took a short detour up to Keys View Overlook which has fantastic views of Coachella, Palm Springs and the Little San Bernadillo Mountains.

We tried to stop at Boulder Dam to see the petroglyphs, but there was absolutely nowhere to park. So many people. I gave up and it was well past lunch time anyway. Mike and I took off for the race expo to pick up bibs, shirts and a headlamp. Mom and Wayne ended up going back there for sunset and had no trouble finding parking.

The race was... maybe not what I expected. Yes, you run in Joshua Tree, but it's the town and a ways away from the park. It's on super sandy dirt roads. If you've ever run in loose sand, you know it's brutal. That's definitely not my favorite thing. However, the worst part about it was the dust kicked up by 2300 stampeding humans. I could not breathe. It hurt to breathe. I hadn't planned ahead and brought a bandana to wear around my mouth because I honestly didn't think about it. For this reason, the run was very hard. Mike was a dreamboat and stayed with me the entire run, which, of course he did in his sandals. Weirdo. We started the race at the tail end of a gorgeous sunset and finished with a sea of stars overhead. We finished the race only 4 minutes slower than my goal time. So, not bad considering.


The next morning we packed up the house and hiked the Fourty-nine Palms Oasis trail. This is a way cool three mile out and back that starts in stark dry desert and ends at an honest-to-goodness desert oasis. We loved it! The shade of the oasis was wonderful! The hike was low-key enough that our tight legs didn't bother us. They weren't really the issue anyway. My lungs felt burnt. It was like someone was sitting on my chest. On the way back, we found a desert tortise walking down the trail toward the oasis. I wonder how long it will take him to get there.


Shortly after, we parted ways with mom and Wayne and headed back to the city. As we checked into the hotel, the power went out. So, we had a room number, but no keys. We waited half an hour and finally just left for dinner. We met Mel and Ryan for Mexican food in Old Town on Dia de los Muertos weekend. It was not calm or quiet. The people watching was fabulous! Lots of sugar skulls and floral headbands. Three hours later, we finally said goodnight and went our own way. The hotel power had only been back on for 15 minutes when we returned.

Joshua Tree was amazing! There's so much there that I didn't have time to do. I would've liked to hike Ryan Mountain, Mastodon Peak, Hidden Valley, the Boy Scout Trail, and Boulder Dam. I would like to do some actual rock climbing. I highly recommend coming this time of year. The days were mid-70s with cool nights. This area is known for its incredibly hot days in the summer. Joshua Tree, we'll be back.

Disclaimer: Despite not loving the dusty night run, I still want to do every single one of Vacation Races half marathons.

National Park 15/61.

Exploring the Halekala Wilderness

My dad and my step-mom Lorrie came to visit for a few weeks. Since they've both been to Oahu a couple of times, I decided we should visit the lush island paradise that is Maui. It's a nice change from the crowded business of Honolulu. We sent them over a day early so they could do a bit of island exploring before the bigger adventure I had planned: Haleakala. Yes, I know anyone can go to the top of Haleakala. However, there's a wonderful and unique backpacking trip through the crater that was my real aim.

Technically the Haleakala crater isn't a crater because it's not bounded on all sides. It's an erosionary depression with new cinder cones growing up and up. I'm going to just call it a crater because it's easier. I found an article on this hike shortly after moving to Hawaii. The logistics were such that I put it off until Dad was looking for a little adventure. None of us had been backpacking in a while, and Lorrie was brand new to the sport. (Spoiler: she did great!) I stressed myself out reading everything I could find on the hike. It was actaully fairly hard to find info if you're not staying in the cabins. So, I included it here in case anyone other than my mom reads this post. (Hi Mom!)

Permits are required to camp and are given out at the visitor center on a first come first served basis. You can pick them up day before or day of your hike. They are free with your park entry fee or annual pass. There are a limit to the number they give out, but it's rare for them to sell out. There are three cabins with pretty much anything you could want for camping, but they book up fast and cost $75 per night. Each cabin is rented to one group only and can hold up to 12 people. We didn't stay in cabins, though. We stayed in tents. Camping is available near two of the cabins, Paliku (9.8 miles from the Sliding Sands trailhead) and Holua (3.9 miles from the Halemau'u trailhead).

Some people choose to do this hike the hard way and start at Holua. We chose the downhill route. This meant Mike dropped us off at the Sliding Sands trailhead with all of our packs. He drove the car down to the Halemau'u trailhead and hitchhiked back up. This was one of the logistical pieces I was worried about. Turns out, it was no big deal. In no time, Mike came cruising up in the back seat of a bright red convertible Mustang looking for all the world like he expected such a stylish ride. It was the first car that passed that picked him up. Since it's a dead end road to the top, I think people are more likely to give hikers a lift. You definitely want to do this at the beginning of the trip. No one will want to pick you up after three days of hiking and no baths.

As soon as Mike arrived, we set off along Sliding Sands trail down into the Mars-like landscape. The trail has panoramic high desert views the entire way to the base of the crater. The sand is finely crushed volcanic rock of varying colors based on age: black, gray, orange, and red. Beautiful little succulent-like plants called silverswords break up the landscape here and there. Silverswords are unique to Haleakala and only grow around 8000 feet in elevation. They're actually in the sunflower family. So, they're not succulents. I'm just full of useful trivia today.

The first cabin is Kapaloa. It sits in a grassy meadow under the rim of the mountain. It has water and an outhouse, which are both kind of nice to have after 5.6 miles of dusty walking. Remember, water needs to be filtered. The taps are outside of the cabins (another of the answers I struggled to find). We sat at the picnic table out front, had some snacks and watched a nene (Hawaii's endemic goose) and some chukar birds wandering around looking for crumbs. This was the first view of actual life inside the crater.

The next part of the trail was a field of dark gray a'a (rough lava formed by splatter rather than flow) that was starting to grow in with plants. The contrasting colors with the vivid blue sky made this a favorite section of the trail for me.

Eventually the landscape turned to grasses and actual trees as we neared the campsite. The Paliku cabin is at the base of one of the crater walls. The wall itself has trees growing all over it. It's pretty impressive. At this point we're above the clouds. We chose two campsites and set up our tents in the grasses. Everyone was pretty tired. We made simple dinners of pouched chicken and instant mashed potatoes with the jet boil. The minute the sun went down the temperature plummeted and we retreated to our sleeping bags for warmth. We woke later to a sky full of stars. There was some sort of haze in the air that made it almost look like static.

The next morning we woke up to frosted tents. We packed our stuff, topped off our water and walked the 6.5 miles to Holua Camp. The trail takes the opposite side of the a'a field and across the Ko'olau Gap. The a'a field on this side has far less flora. At the end of the field the earth turns to dark gray sand. Against the crater rim, big jagged rocks split the hillside looking for all the world like a laying down dinosaur with stegosaurus plates ,amiright? No? Like the big boulder is the head, and the tail trails off up the hill on the left side? Ok, fine. I'm an adult child, I get it.

Shortly after that section I took a step and nearly squished a big wolf spider. On closer inspection she was carrying tons of babies on her back. Way cool! The spider, with legs included, was about the length of my pointer finger. I'm super glad that wasn't in my house/bed/sleeping bag, but was cool to see along the trail.  We were back to the gray and red sands when we found this gorgeous painted section.

The trail took us through the Ko'olau Gap's dark sands with little bits of lava strewn here and there to a little side trail called the Silversword loop. It lived up to its name and was totally worth the extra .1 mile it added to the trip.

Walking into Holua camp was similar to the other side, but with more lava rock. The plants started coming up and the views were, of course, spectacular. The cabin came into view a short distance later. There's a little cave above the cabin big enough for an emergency holdout for a couple of people. The campground is actually not next to the cabin. It's up a hill further than you'd actually think to walk. Our site was surrounded by a little fairy ring of black a'a and backed by the giant wall of the crater. There's an outhouse up there and a stable for the horse tours that operate occasionally. We're still mostly above the clouds here, but the winds brought in airy clouds and mists that occasionally socked us in completely.

We arrived early enough to enjoy the area for a bit. Mike and I played with the drone for a bit. A few large groups of day hikers came and went. We set up camp, had an early dinner, talked over tea. The sunset didn't bring on the cold like the previous night. It was pleasant, but once the sun goes down, there's no real reason to be awake since campfires aren't allowed. Mike woke me up around 3 AM to check out a clear sky full of incredible stars. Whatever haze had blocked the view the previous night was gone. The stars were clear, bright, focused. We could see the Milkyway arcing across the horizon. Between the new moon and the low cloud cover, no light dulled our view. It's crazy to realize how much there is to see when you fully escape human influence. Being in the middle of the ocean has its advantages.

The following morning took us along a ton of switchbacks up Halemau'u trail back to the car. It was a beautiful and remarkably comfortable hike for its elevation gain. Every switchback brought fantastic views across the crater. The car was right where Mike left it, undisturbed. The trip went super smoothly.

We grabbed lunch (real food!) at Grandma's in Kuya. Then we checked out a nearby lavender farm, which was beautiful and fragrent. Finally, we took a dip in the ocean to clean some of the dirt off. It felt amazing!

Things to note: Hawaiian doesn't allow trekking poles as a carry-on. It also doesn't allow camp stoves or fuel. Mokulele, on the otherhand, let us take both. The ride is far more awesome too. Support the little guy! We picked up jetboil fuel at Maui Adventure Sports in Kahului. We flew in the night before and stayed the night. The other option is to fly in morning of the hike. There's plenty of time. The sun is super intense, so I strongly suggest hat, glasses, hood, long sleeves and sunscreen. Our lips were totally chapped for a few days after. Sunscreen them and use chapstick. Oh, and don't forget to charge your phone or camera. I took over 500 photos in three days.

Red Rock Country

Since Mike and I signed up for the Antelope Canyon Ultras 50 miler and 55k (more on that here), we (I) decided we should spend a few days doing a bit of exploring northern Arizona. We flew into Las Vegas to spend a day visiting family and eating delicious Mexican food. I have a huge weakness for tacos. Mom lent us her Mustang so we could cruise the desert in style.

The race was held in the stunningly scenic landscape of Page, AZ. The town itself is not super memorable, but the surrounding vistas are incredible in every direction. I booked us tours of the famous upper and lower Antelope Canyons. They are slot canyons which you really have to experience to fully appreciate. They're different, one being wider at the bottom and narrow at the top, the other being more V shaped. Upper Antelope was the canyon Mike ran through on the race. Since it wasn't part of my course, and would likely be very dark for his, we used the time to take a bazillion photos of the dynamic, flowing tunnel. It was way cool! The guide told us that in a flash flood, it only takes 6 minutes to completely fill with water. There's literally nowhere to go. YIKES! It was REALLY hard to sort through pictures of this trip to find my favorites.

After the tour, we tried to visit the Horseshoe Bend trail, but the parking lot is closed. So there's a shuttle on a 15 minute rotation... sounded like it would take too long. We drove up to a short loop called Hanging Gardens which is right by the Glen Canyon Dam. It was a fast walk through the desert to a cool formation that had enough shade to protect a wall of ferns from the brutal Arizona sun. Once again, it was absolutely gorgeous everywhere I looked.


From that little "hike" we drove to Lower Antelope Canyon. The canyons aren't actually attached. They're a few miles apart, but no one was clever enough to come up with two names. This second canyon was incredible. The light was on point; there were ladders to climb on. It was MUCH less crowded than the upper canyon. Our guide was like all of the Navajos I met down in Arizona: polite, shy and very nice. But, again, the pictures do more than words can.

I guess I really didn't talk about the weather, it was mid-50s with a polar wind that cut right through our clothes and laughed at our thin Hawaii blood. I was beyond nervous for the run the next day. Elevation, cold wind, dry air and thirty-four miles??! EEP! Luckily the wind settled to a nice off-and-on breeze by race day. I decided the race deserved to be its own post. So, let's just skip that day and talk about the rest of our AZ activities.

The morning after the race, I decided we had to explore a place called The New Wave before heading to the Grand Canyon. The Wave is a way cool sandstone formation that is next to impossible to get permits for. They only issue 15 per day. I put in for the lottery for three different days and was unsuccessful. The New Wave supposedly looks the same (I disagree), but is open access. Anyway, this place is a cool formation surrounded by the area's characteristic red sand. We did some wandering around, followed a path that loops the formation, and played with the drone for a few minutes. My knees were very stiff, but I was able to do some exploring. Mike seemed to be fine, but was definitely grumpy that I wanted him to move his legs. I'm an abusive wife like that.

We entered Grand Canyon National Park through the east entrance. We were heading to the hotel to meet Mom and Wayne, but decided a short detour for a peek at the canyon and a bathroom break were definitely in order. The canyon is almost unfathomable. It is so vast and impressive that my brain can't actually comprehend it. It appears to look flat, like a poster. I was immediately resentful that my knees weren't pulling their weight so that I could go hiking. They reminded me with mean little twinges that it was MY idea to force them to run through sand for nine hours. Touche, knees.

On the way out of the park to our hotel and rendezvous point, we had a five minute delay due to elk all over the road. Way cool! After a late lunch or early dinner, the four of us headed back into the park to do all of the east side lookouts. Each one has a different close view with changing colors of rock. It's absolutely awe-inspiring.

We woke before dawn to try to catch a sunrise at the Visitor Center. It was cloudy and not particularly spectacular, but enjoyable nonetheless. I mean, ignoring the fact that it was 30 degrees out and my toes wanted to fall off. No big deal. When did I turn into such a wimp? I'm a big fan of my tropical island lately.

Once everyone had warmed up, caffeineated, and had sandwiches for the road, we headed back to the park and jumped on the red shuttle to see all of the lookouts to the west. It was really beautiful. The skies cleared to that deep, rich blue that really pops against the reds, oranges, and tans of the desert. We stopped at almost every stop, but I was pretty glad when we were done. My knees were making sure I didn't forget abusing them two days past. My favorite stop was the Abyss, and I am still unsure if that's because of the name or the scenery. 50/50 shot there.

Aside from not having time or ability to hike, I really enjoyed visiting the Grand Canyon and now want to add three more items to my bucket list: backpacking to the bottom, doing a rafting trip down the Colorado, and visiting the North Rim.