Koko Crater Hike

This past weekend, we decided to go hiking. Since we were heading out toward Hawaii Kai, we thought we'd try out the Koko Crater stairway hike. We've been to the park right at the trail head so often and we always say that we should hike it. Well, that day has finally come.



The crater looks pretty high from ground level, but we always see a bunch of people going up and down, so we figured...what the heck, we can do that.

The trail actually follows railroad tracks all the way to the top. There is an old military lookout post up there and they used rail cars to haul supplies to the top. Nowadays, the railroad ties make for handy steps. The trail can sort of be broken down into three sections. The first part is a fairly steep, but not too bad, incline that ends in what looks like a leveling off area. We were hoping that this area was a flat stretch where we could rest a bit, but it turned out to be just a not as steep slope. Stupid illusions....beh.
The next section is a bridge that goes over a shallow (maybe 12 foot) gorge. Sounds pretty tame but with the incline and the fact that you are pretty high up, it can cause you a little bit of concern. We saw a bunch of people climbing up on all fours.





We took a short breather at the bottom of the bridge section. Some of us made the decision to stay right were they were. If you look carefully at the photo above, you can see the third and final section. It's basically a super steep incline to the top. Blake and I were determined to get to the top so we pressed on.




And made it....Yay!!!! The view up there was awesome and well worth the climb. You get a great view of Hawaii Kai, Hanauma Bay, and the Sandy Beach area.





The hike back down was actually much more harder than the climb up. I think if we ran/jogged down, it would have been a lot less rough on our knees and lower thighs...but the incline and the thought of tumbling all the way down stopped us from trying.



At the bridge, we met up with Michelle. She made friends with some of the other hikers and they showed her a secret path to bypass the bridge. You basically climb down and hike around it. There she is in the gorge, showing us the way.



The hike was awesome and we had a great time. Blake is finally at an age where he is physically able to do these hikes and can also appreciate the scenic views, nature stuff, and family time during the hike.