Three great short hikes and one great adventure on Oahu Jan 28 - Feb 4 2023

Well, I have been blogging a lot over the last few weeks but I promise that this is the last one.  It is pretty hard to have such great experiences on such a great island and not want to share them with everyone!

THREE SHORT HIKES:

We took three great short hikes while on the island of Oahu.

Makapu'u Point Lighthouse Trail: Makapu'u Point Lighthouse Trail is a 2 mile out and back hike to none other than...the Makapu'u Lighthouse.  Makapu'u Point is the easternmost point of the island of Oahu so the drive to get out there takes a while past Hanauma Bay, the Lanai Lookout, and the Halona Blowhole.  Parking is free and is a piece of cake, ya just pull in off the Kalaniana'ole Hwy.  The path is busy, so if you cannot find parking immediately, someone is bound to arrive at their car shortly.  Be forewarned, there are no restrooms at the trailhead.

Sooo, the trail is not actually a trail, it is a service road, and it is paved all the way.  It is not at all difficult, just a gradual incline of about 520 feet.  The lighthouse is cute but not accessible.  The views from the top are quite sweeping, and you can see both sides of the point from this spot.

Anyway, its a good quick hike to a great viewpoint.  Incidentally, this is supposedly a good spot for whale watching during the winter months, but though I watched and watched, no whales appeared.  There are a few little concrete buildings up here, evidence of how the point was put to use during World War II.

I might add that we had pelting sideways rain while on this trail and it really made me want to cry.  Don't avoid this trail because of my experience with bad weather.  I would do it again.  Just for your planning, we did this the same day we did Hanuama Bay, the Halona Blowhole, and the Lanai Lookout.

Lovely view of windward Oahu from Makapu'u Pt.

The Makapu'u Lighthouse

Manoa Falls Trail:  The Manoa Falls Trail is a 2 mile trail out and back trail to none otherthan...Manoa Falls!  The beauty (or one of the many beauties of this trail) is the ease of accessibility from the Honolulu area--up through the upscale University of Hawaii, Manoa neighborhood and there you are.  It costs $7 to park--quite frankly a little steep considering the hike will take less than one hour.  Anyway, the parking lot is abutted by a building, the purpose of which I never did ascertain, but there are CLEAN bathrooms (certainly for a trail head!), a few vending machines, and a hose for spraying off muddy shoes.  The guy at the booth sells snacks, mosquito repellent, and sunscreen.

Anyway, it's about a mile each way and about an 800 foot gain.  We are quick and we did this in about 20 minutes (to the falls).  Water shoes were advised (and this is what we hiked in) but the trail was not muddy.  Mosquito repellent was also advised but we did not see any mosquitos.  

The trail, for being so close to civilization is lush and beautiful.  The reward at the end is a 160 foot waterfall dropping into a small pool below. Now there are people in the pool below, climbing over the warning sign and taking a dip.  It did not look particularly inviting, and the thought of a rock dropping 160 feet onto my head was not at all appealing.

The Manoa Falls Trail branches out to the entire Tantalus Trail System as per the map above.

We got to this trailhead I would say about 3ish and we were done less than an hour later. We did this trail after our day at Pearl Harbor followed by a delicious lunch at Ono Seafood in Waikiki/Honolulu.

And finally, Manoa Falls!

Diamond Head:  Now THIS is the crown jewel mac daddy of short hikes on the island of Oahu, and everyone knows it too.  A hike to the top of Diamond Head is pretty much imperative when visiting Oahu.  Diamond Head, like the two other hikes we took, is a 2 mile out and back trail.  The trailhead is accessed south of Waikiki at the Diamond Head State Monument.  There are restrooms at the bottom of the trail at the visitor center.  Anyway, the trail is narrow, and like I said, because hiking Diamond Head is a necessity, everyone is on it, so we found ourselves having to overtake the advanced in years (good for them, by the way), families with children, and those who had failed to exercise a single day in their lives and now were taking this not to be missed hike, with some frequency.  The trail gains about 560 feet over one mile and the views come about quite quickly.  There are some stairs to negotiate and a portion of narrow dark tunnel.  On the way down there is a spiral staircase and more stairs.  We completed the ascent in about 25 minutes and found it to be easy.  

There are a lot of people at the top, and there is some jockeying to get the perfect selfie with the incredible views of Waikiki and Honolulu in the background.  The day was very clear when we went, and the views breathtaking!  Well worth it!

Well, here is the rub.  As of May 2022, you need a reservation to hike Diamond Head.  We arrived at the entrance at about 8:30am without one.  A timed reservation needs to be made through the Hawaii Department of State Parks at dlnr.hawaii.gov. The park is open daily at 6am with the last entry at 4pm with the gates closing at 6pm.  It costs $5 for each person to hike and another $10 to park your car.

Well, we quickly pulled into an available parking spot, outside the main parking lot before the tunnel, but still reasonably close, and looked at what our options were.  The only time available with parking was at 2pm, which was going to mess up our entire day's plan.  We did however notice that we could get entrance to the hike without parking quite a bit earlier at 10. Since we were already occupying a parking space, we took this reservation and decided to wait it out.  Then someone had the idea to just march on down there and see if they would let us in early.  They did, a full 45 minutes early.  

I highly recommend a stop by Leonard's Malasadas following your semi-strenuous hike up Diamond Head

Jockeying for that perfect selfie!

Beautiful views of Waikiki from the top!

AND ONE GREAT ADVENTURE:

On the windward side of the island, north of Kane'ohe, there is a over touristed stop at the base of the Ko'olau Mountain Range known as Kualoa Ranch.  This place offers a wide variety of tours ranging from horse back riding to movie tours to ATV's to trips to their "Secret Beach."  Tours can satisfy people of all ages and relative desire for adventure, as the movie tour has you in an open jeep with no physical exertion required.  People came in skirts/white pants/flip flops and others were dressed more like, well, we were.  What tour did we choose?  The experienced (as opposed to novice) 2 hours E-bike tour--the most active tour offered by Kualoa Ranch.  We had considered the ATV tour, but it was more expensive and only one person could drive the ATV, so the E-Bike tour it was.

Though I signed up for the experienced tour, I had never ridden an e bike.  None of us had.  It rained the entire way to the ranch, and the tour made no mention of cancelling because of weather.  My daughter was not warmly dressed and it was on the cold side.  I started to get a bit nervous- saw a lot of visions of slick mud, cliffs, and narrow steep paths--i.e. one of us plunging to our deaths.  Our guide, Christian, however, set our minds at ease.  We equipped my daughter with a $2 poncho and her dad's extra sweater, and off we went.

About to set out!

Besides the four of us, there was only one other couple on the tour, so with the guide there were seven of us.  Except for some very rare and light rain, it did not rain during our tour.

Now the e bike is pretty cool.  There are four settings which basically give you a boost as you ride.  Wanting to actually get some exercise, I kept mine in the lowest assist mode almost the entire time, but the lazy a men in our family kept their bikes in "turbo" mode.  Pretty much as soon as you start to pedal you can feel the power kick in, and it's pretty cool.  On an uphill climb you can pretty much turn your bicycle into a motorcycle.

Anyway, what an experience!  The tour winds through 12 miles of rolling single track and some more open dirt roads.  The scenery becomes outstanding really quickly.  The tour leads you by several deserted movie sets, including Jurassic World, King Kong, and Jurassic Park.  It is a good workout, but not really that hard.  We finished the tour early because we were all good riders so we got to see some additional stuff, including going into an old WWII bunker.  Our guide was really awesome and made sure that we were all ok.  At one point the chain on my bike broke.  He immediately gave me his back and within minutes a bike had been delivered to us by another staff member.

Still clean...

Can you see the dinosaurs running behind us?

Ok so why was this an adventure really?  Sounds just like a bike ride so far, right?  Ok, the one thing we did not expect was how dirty we were going to get on account of the muddy conditions.  Every muddy puddle or stretch of wet dirt road you cycled through flew right off your bike tire and up your entire back, as far as your hair.  Now the mud was one thing, but you had to make darn sure you did not ride through any rain drenched fresh cowshit, of which there was much.  The thought of this stuff flying up onto my back made me literally nauseous, so I was really attentive as to where my tires were going, and I made sure my family did the same!

Anyway, this was the dirtiest I had been in my entire life.  People from other tours gawked at us in disbelief.  After the ride was over, there was a hose to wash your legs and water shoes, but hosing down the rest of your clothes and your backpacks was not really an option.  We pulled some used ponchos out of a garbage can and gingerly changed into some swim suits, the only other clothes we had, and wrapped our defiled clothing into one large muddy ball.  We had plans to go out to eat in Honolulu-nope, no way.  We weren't fit to even grocery shop.  When we got home I spent 30 full minutes in the shower scrubbing mud out of everything.  THEN we threw it all in the washing machine.  OMG.

you've got to scroll in to see how dirty he was..

I am on the left with the hose, trying to un-mud..

and now from the front!

But it was fun and I would recommend it, but I did tell them in a review that they should let people know about the dirt factor.  

Thank you for reading this post!!  No travel for a while but I am planning a Greek Odyssey in July!  I will let you know how that is going!!

Oh yeah, baby--Lunch at Ono Seafood

Aim for this sign after your 
Diamond Head Hike

Pearl Harbor Wednesday February 1, 2023

The USS Arizona Memorial

When visiting the island of Oahu, a visit to Pearl Harbor is necessary. Pearl Harbor is somewhat of a misnomer because 'Pearl Harbor' is an expansive working harbor north and east of Honolulu.  The historical area is actually the Pearl Harbor National Monument, which includes of the USS Arizona Memorial and its accompanying visitor center.  This is usually what people are talking about when they say they saw Pearl Harbor.

In the same area is the USS Bowfin, a fleet attack submarine that fought in the Pacific during WWII.  The Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum and the USS Missouri Memorial, the battleship on which the terms of surrender of Japan were signed, are on nearby Ford Island and are accessible by free shuttle.  These three require separate admission.  The Bowfin is $22, the Aviation Museum is $26, and the USS Missouri is $35.  They all have their own websites through which you can purchase tickets  You really can't do them all plus the USS Arizona Memorial in one day.  You can, but you would be pretty tired, and you would be hurried.  Anyway, we were on the 8:45am boat to the USS Arizona.  After we completed this and the visitor center we saw only the USS Missouri which took about two additional hours. After that we were beat..and hungry.

THE USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL:

The actual USS Arizona Memorial requires a ticketed boat ride.  Every 30 minutes a boat takes 75 visitors to the memorial which is built directly over the sunken battleship.  Tickets are free, with a $1 reservation fee (you really can't beat that deal) and include the visitor center. Tickets must be purchased through the National Park service's website, recreation.gov. Tickets are released at 3pm HST 8 weeks in advance.  A second release occurs 24 hours in advance.  Now I was warned that this ticket was a hot commodity and that I needed to get right on it to ensure my date and time.  I bought the tickets 8 weeks in advance, though not precisely at 3 pm HST, and had no trouble.  Today I looked at what was available in 8 weeks and there is quite a bit left.  It's only sold out for about the next four weeks, so it does seem you have some flexibility-it's not like Hanauma Bay. Through the same website you can get an audio tour narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis for $8.  We did get this as I heard it was worthwhile.  It's good, though in hindsight, not essential.  What I will say is that if you do purchase the audio tour, you should pick it up immediately.  We thought it was just for the visitor center itself, but there are stations on the outdoor grounds and also at the USS Arizona Memorial.

The parking at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center site is free.  They are also extremely strict about what you can take onto the premises.  No purses. No backpacks.  I had my phone in my pocket and that was it.

Ok.  Back to the USS Arizona Memorial.  The experience is very moving from the very start.  First, the tour group sits in a small auditorium where a gentleman seriously shares what is about to be experienced.  He sadly reported that every day people come to this sight with no idea about what happened here.

This might be a good place to mention how little I knew and how much I learned about what went down in the early morning hours of December 7, 1941.  Twenty four hundred Americans lost their lives that day, including 68 civilians.  The attack was a complete surprise.  Most of the men were below deck or still in their beds.  The Japanese sunk 12 ships, including 8 battleships, and damaged another 7 vessels, most of which were repaired and later sent back into service.  The American government was in active talks with the Japanese government up to the day before the attack, an effort to avoid war.  They knew that a Japanese attack was imminent, but were not able to discern from where it might come.  The battleships were parked in the harbor in pairs, and the aircraft were parked wing to wing, making them both particularly susceptible during the attack. The entire attack took one hour and 15 minutes.  The Japanese lost 129 soldiers.

Many were rescued in the valiant efforts of the survivors over the next several hours.  Two aircraft carriers usually stationed at Pearl Harbor were out on exercises in the Pacific.  Also somehow spared were fuel tanks. It is said that if these had been blown up, the impact of Pearl Harbor might have been far more dismal.

1177 men died on the USS Arizona alone after the ship was hit with an armor piercing bomb shortly after 8 in the morning. Of these men, 1102 remain with the sunken ship and are considered to be buried at sea. 

The boat takes you to the memorial where you remain for about 15 minutes, or about the time it takes for the boat to go back and get the next group. The respect shown by those working the site and those visiting is encouraging--no selfies or loud laughing--thank God.   There is a room at the end with a wall carved with the names of those who perished there. Forty three survivors have joined their brothers in the sea following their deaths in the years since the attack, and their names are also added. The area is a somber site without a doubt.  The completely visible sunken ship still bleeds oil today, more than 80 years later.

The names of those lost on the Arizona

The memorial is built right over the sunken boat

Upon returning to the center, it is well worth the time to watch the 23 minute video. "Pearl Harbor: the Death of the USS Arizona," narrated by actress Stockard Channing.  The film really puts everything into perspective.  I really have no idea how some of these films were obtained of recovered, but it is extremely well done and informative.

The visitor center is small but also so informative.  There is excellent documentation of the circumstances leading up to the attack, the details of actual attack, and the immediate aftermath and recovery.  On the grounds closer to the water are the Pearl Harbor Remembrance Circle, which lists the names of all those that lost their lives on that day and on what vessels, including those in lesser known areas also attacked that day, such as Hickam Field and the Naval Air Field at Kaneohe Bay.  There is also a circle dedicated to those who survived, also separated by vessel.

USS MISSOURI- :

The Mighty Mo

As mentioned above, the USS Missouri, or the 'Mighty Mo' as it is commonly referred to, is it's own sight and is parked on Ford Island, which is about a 10 minute free shuttle ride from the visitor center.  

The USS Missouri was not involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor.  However, the USS Missouri, stationed in Tokyo Bay at the time, was the sight of the signing of the terms of surrender of Japan to the Allied powers on September 2, 1945.  The Missouri had been active in the Pacific theatre in WWII, and then went on to service in the Korean War before being decommissioned in 1955.  The ship found a new purpose in the 80's and 90's, participating in military operations in the Middle East, before being permanently decommissioned in 1992. 

After some debate, it was decided that it would be fitting for the places that the American participation in WWII began and ended to be in visible proximity to one another and Missouri was returned to Pearl Harbor where she was opened as a                                                                                    museum in 1999 and remains to this day.

The entrance fee includes an approximately 30 minute tour around the main deck of the ship, which includes the exact spot the terms of surrender were signed.  The tour is informative and worthwhile. 

A large portion of the ship is open for self touring, and we also found this to be quite interesting.  Certain parts of the ship are converted to museum like displays, others have been left as they were when the ship was operational, such as the bunks, the showers, the mess hall, the bakery (complete with the smell of doughnuts), and the officers quarters. 

Interesting that the US Military and I have the same rules

Pretty tight for a tall guy!

One very interesting area is dedicated to Kamikaze pilots, Japanese pilots, as most of you know, that gave their lives for Japan simply by crashing into things with their planes.  These young men, some as young as the age of 17, made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and their last letters to their loved ones, some of them unborn children, displayed in the museum hall, reveal a surprising spirit of confidence and joy in their own suicides. I found it difficult to imagine being on the receiving end of one of these letters, and could only force myself to read a few.

Incidentally, a kamikaze attempted to take out the USS Missouri in April of 1945.  The poor kid barely nicked the hull but his plane flipped onto the deck and exploded, killing none but the poor pilot himself.  The sailors, it being a better time with better people, used items around the ship to construct a makeshift Japanese flag and buried the youngster with military honors. A truly human story.

I will add this here as a comment.  In general at both the Missouri and the Visitor Center site I was impressed by the neutrality of the presentation.  The presentation is factual and fair.  Though Japan was our enemy in war at the time, the presentation reminds us that the Japanese who fought were human souls who had families and loved ones.  Though we were at war then, we are not at war now, and all are welcome to mourn the loss of human life, both American and Japanese, that happened in the Pacific during WWII

A FEW THOUGHTS:

Anyway, I will repeat.  Every American needs to see and understand this place and what happened here. In my opinion, it is probably best for children/teens to have had at least at least some US History, so I think the age of appreciation may be about 16 (mine were 19 and 23).  Schools now are frightfully deficient in their presentation of the facts of history, and truly there is just too much to teach, so it is important for parents to bring their teens to fill in the gaps and help our future to appreciate the sacrifices that were made so that they can enjoy freedom.  

Memorials are sad but necessary.  Knowing that you stand over the grave of over 1000 American boys who were probably eating pancakes as they took their last breaths is a sobering reminder of your own mortality.

Pearl Harbor is almost more of a pilgrimage than an activity.

Thank you for reading this post!!  I hope to write another post about some great hikes on Oahu this week!  And now for some more pictures!

The guns of the USS Missouri

The Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri

are only a short distance from each other