Koko Crater, round 3!

Last night, Quinn and I got a babysitter and headed out for the southeast tip of the island. Right across the road from Hanauma Bay (one of my favorite snorkeling spots) is Koko Crater. There's a path that heads straight up the spine of it from the base to the very tippy top, 1208' above sea level. It's quite a hike, but the view at the top is just spectacular - well worth breaking a sweat for. It starts out fairly gently, with just a little slope, but about halfway up, it starts to angle up pretty sharply.

Just before the hard climb starts, there's a section that bridges a ravine, so it's just railroad ties and the rails, floating in space. There's a gap of about 1.5' between each railroad tie, so there's a lot of space to look at as you place your feet. At the midpoint of the bridge section, the drop is about 20', so if you don't like heights, this section is a real challenge! (Luckily for me, Quinn didn't mention it before we went the first time, so I didn't have all that time to be apprehensive about it) Here's a video Quinn took from our first trip up, so you can see what it's like.

When you get to the top, there's all this old rusty stuff. Check this link to learn more about how a railroad track and enormous gears came to be on the side of an old volcanic crater.

This was our third time hiking it together. The first time was back in April, and at that time, I had only been hitting the treadmill for about a month. I was pretty sure I was going to die before I got to the top, but I was 100% sure I wasn't going to stop until I got there. So, I reasoned, I might be dead, but I'd still stand at the summit. :D Turns out, it didn't kill me, though the faces of the other hikers looked pretty concerned when they passed me.

We went again a month or so later, and I was thrilled at how much easier it was. I figured it wouldn't be *quite* as hard, but I had no idea that the difficulty would drop to the point where I could actually enjoy the view as I hiked!

We meant to do the hike again sooner than this, but with all the craziness of life with 3 kids and lots of things to do, we didn't get around to it until yesterday. I was curious if it would feel any easier this time than the second time. It was awesome! We only paused maybe once or twice on the way up, and that was more to admire the view than to catch our breath (Well, Quinn's in great shape anyway, so he doesn't need to stop for breathers). Start to finish, we did the hike up in under half an hour. Just to get an idea of how great that is, our first trip up took a little over an hour! When we got to the top, we took a some time to just relax and let the breeze cool us off. There's always a deliciously cool wind at the top - a perfect reward for making it up there.

As we headed back down, the sun was setting, and we got to the bottom as dusk set in. What a fantastic way to end a great weekend!