Mt Olympus

Today was an awesome day, so much fun! I went for a 6 mile hike up Mt Olympus with my friend Russ, followed by a swim at Kaimana beach and a "Cheese Burger in Paradise" (yes, it's owned by Jimmy Buffet). I'm now back in my apartment nursing my dehydration, stiff legs (I did a ten mile run on saturday too!) and bruised butt (and by bruised, I mean BRUISED).

I wish I had taken a photo of me on this hike, but I forgot. By the end of the hike I was literally covered in mud, all up my legs, my butt and my arms. It's a typical Hawaiian muddy trail, but also steep and really slippy in places. I managed to take a good slip (one of many by both of us) onto a tree root, my right butt cheek is now black. At least the outcome is indicative of how much that hurt, I hate it when you take a good tumble and don't even have a bruise to show for the pain. I've also ascertained my Keens might be beyond their useful tread-life. I kind of knew this, but was hoping to eek them out a little longer....

The hike (topographic map here) -

The trail on the Wa'ahila Ridge trail. This is looking back into Waikiki.

Some beautiful views of Diamond Head volcano.

Looking down Manoa Valley (right - where my house is) all the way to Waikiki and downtown Honolulu. Palolo valley is on the left, we're right up on the ridge between them.

After two hours walking up the ridgeline we finally came to Mt Olympus - this photo is taken from the top looking down to Kailua, on the windward side of the island (the opposite side from where I live, and the opposite from the previous photo). It was gorgeous, but a little cloudy, so this photo looked better in sepia.

Kailua town. It was getting pretty cloudy up here, but otherwise we were lucky with the weather, no rain.

There was a short trail down from Mt Olympus towards Kailua that we investigated, it didn't go too far though. But there was a ton of Korean hikers sat on the Mt Olympus viewpoint, so we didn't feel like sticking around there too long.