I am not a Billy Goat

This week my roommate has a friend visiting us from the mainland (his nickname is Billy Goat, which will all make sense later).  He came last year, but I was too busy training for the HURT100 to spend any time with him.  When he headed out for a trail run and came home 6 hours later talking about the trail he conquered, I felt like I missed out. When I heard he was coming again this year, I made sure I found some time to explore with a fellow adventurer. And explore, we did. I'm leaving tonight for my month-long trip to Europe, but definitely made the most of my last few days here in Hawaii.

Sunday we went to the beach to take advantage of some good waves. I haven't been body boarding since I was probably 12, and wasn't sure if I would enjoy it.  After my first wave, I turned into a kid all over again. Wave after wave after wave. It was awesome. 

Charging back in

The glee of catching a wave all the way to shore

My roommate (right) and Billy Goat riding one in

The next day we decided to hike Olomana.  Olomana is a series of three peaks, and most people usually stop at the first.  Going into the hike I didn't know anything about it since I was too busy to do background reading on it. Stupid mistake #1.  Stupid mistake #2,3,4..? Letting Billy Goat convince me to push through the hike. The first half of the climb up to the first peak was really easy. Nice, forested area.  But soon we entered the rock-climbing part. I am not a rock climber. I fear sharp drop offs.  But not wanting to seem like a sissy, I kept on pushing.  Higher and higher. But the view at the top of the first peak was amazing.

At the top of the first peak

Looking on towards the third peak

At the top of the first peak, I tried to put my foot down.  "No farther!" I pleaded.  Billy Goat prodded "c'mon....it's just a little bit further..." So I gave in. When I saw the ropes and the sheer drop off I tried again. "Oh heeeeeeeeeeeellllllll no. No way am I doing that. I'm not ready to die. I still have a lot more living to do."  Billy Goat just started the descent and the whole way down kept telling me how safe it was.  Safe, my ass.

Nice protected trail, huh?

On the way up to the third peak I finally gave in.  We got to this section where it was nothing but rock and sheer, sheer drop offs on either side. My "oh hell no" turned into a true panic. My legs started shaking and I got nauseous. I knew there was no way I could safely get up to the top. So I held onto the rocks for dear life as Billy Goat made his way to the top.  On our way down from the third peak some fellow hikers snapped this shot. I'm not kidding when I say this was the safest part of this peak:

As hard as the Olomana hike was, we knew it was just a warmup for the hike to Ka'ala.  Yesterday we hiked from Waianae to Waialua via Ka'ala. All together (walking from Waianae, getting lost on the trail and backtracking halfway down the ridge, the hike, talking story with the military at the top, walking to find the bus in Waialua) it took us 9 hours. Not a bad day in the office!

On the way up we were stoked to find strawberry guavas. We filled our bellies with these before the main ascent.

Speaking of the main ascent...it was very wet. And slippery. And steep. We definitely picked the wrong day to hike.  Billy Goat thought it was funny to videotape me on the worst parts.  Here's one of the videos (my voice gets high pitched when stressed, which I clearly am):

Transcript: "So, how's the footing now?" "Well, when we looked this up online it was sunny and really pretty, but it's been raining pretty much the whole time so it's uh, a little bit slippery."

The top of the mountain is behind me

The top of Mt. Kaala! Highest point on Oahu (over 4000 ft)

At the top is the Ka'ala nature reserve. It's a big bog containing amazing plants:

The blue is invasive moss that the Conservationists cover with an herbicide (hence the blue color)

Unidentified Military Objects

Stopping to tie my shoe among the moss: right then was when I noticed an endangered Hawaiian snail on my glove!

The descent was where all the fun happened.  The first part was really, really muddy.  We were still in the clouds and slid our whole way down the mountain. The ropes helped, but did little to avoid the slipping:

Transcript: "Laura on descent. She's complaining about the length between knots" "Look! My arms don't even reach that far. That's way to long to go without knot support." "A little tricky maneuver...whoa boy!" "Help! Stop recording!" 

One of the smaller peaks on the descent

More rock climbing, which I loathe.

This candid shot captures my hatred of rock climbing

And this video captures my hatred even more (I honestly didn't know he was filming)

Transcript: "Oh, great. What do you want me to do, climb that like a Billy Goat?" "No, you, uh, take a step down." "For freak's sake. Who's brilliant idea was this? Not mine." "That is...true." "I don't have legs that long!"

See me?

Honey, I shrunk the kids! Grass above our heads!

On the very last part of the hike we encountered a wild boar, two horses, three peacocks, and a mongoose.  All in all a pretty exciting day!

And the best part: hitching a ride back to town in a pickup. 

But alas, my Hawaii fun is over and tonight I head to Denmark for a whole month! I'll do my best to blog, although there probably won't be a lot to blog about. I've packed my running shoes and some warm running clothes and a light (dark from 3:30pm to 8:30am!). Hopefully I'll get out for some fun runs!