Saturday May 7, 2011
By Alison and Kacie
By Alison and Kacie
Due to bipolar weather with scattered showers and overcast today, we decided to play it safe and hike Diamond Head Crater. We were a little reluctant to do this hike, knowing that it is probably the top tourist hike on the island. (And we weren't too thrilled about the $1 fee for walk-ins to get up on the trail.) We scoffed as we walked on the beginning paved trail thinking about the much more strenuous hikes we had completed weeks before.
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| There goes all the fun. |
This 1 3/4 mile hike, labeled as "easy to moderate," was going to be such a waste of time (the last time we remember doing this hike was as a class field trip in 2nd grade). There were even signs telling us to keep on the trail and railings to actually keep us on the trail.
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| Kacie relaxing on the railing. |
We realized that we may had judged this hike too soon as we quickly came across the long and winding road up this famous crater.
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| The Long and Winding Road |
We soon reached the 2/3 mark that had a spot to take pictures with the nice view. We went off the trail despite any signs (gasp!) to take a few of our own pictures as well. See Kacie below.
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| Kacie rules the world! |
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| Alison living on the edge. |
A few steps later we came across this staircase, leading straight into a tunnel. As we recall (back when this hike was free), this tunnel used to be the spookiest part, requiring any hikers who dared to go in to bring a flashlight for assistance. Now, since it's such a tourist attraction, they have implanted lights. While dim, we are still able to see exactly where we are stepping, demolishing any fun the cave was pre-lights. After the tunnel, we were greeted with yet another, even steeper, set of stairs containing exactly 99 steps.
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| 1st set of stairs |
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| Tunnel |
Once we made it past the second staircase, we were greeted by a third, now a spiral staircase leading to the top. This dark spiral staircase had the feeling of a castle or a dungeon. After this, we had made it to the top. We were surprised to see one of the most beautiful views of all our hikes. We both decided that this was most definitely not a waste of our time.
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View of Koko Head in distance. |
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Diamond Head lighthouse |
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Waikiki |
More about Diamond Head Crater:
- It's known as the most famous volcanic crater in the world
- This popular crater was orginally named "Laeahi" by the Hawaiians, which means "brow of the tuna." They gave it this name because of its shape and location.
- The unlit dark tunnel is a total of 225 feet long.
Bibliography
"Diamond Head Trail." HawaiiWeb.com, The Web of the Islands. Web. 14 May 2011. http://www.hawaiiweb.com/html/hiking/diamond_head_trail.html
