Kealia

From Hawaiian BU

So I guess we did get in a new hike this weekend. The original plan was to take the teenagers up the Crystal Canyon and spend some time on top of the Waianae Mountain Range with them. However, people had some reservations about us taking the teens climbing with ropes, so they made us change the plans to something more acceptable to their wishes. The only logical choice we had was to take the crew up the Kealia trail, located a stone throws away from Camp Erdman behind the Dillingham Airfield. All of the higher-ups were more satisfied with this plan, especially since it was a nice wide trail that 5th graders had done previously. Even though, they still made sure to send Camp staff with Chinese BU, brother Mitch, and me to ensure that all went according to the plan.

Kealia is a one hot hike. It's a whole bunch of switchbacks that zig-zags up the side of the mountain, periodically providing some excellent views of the Mokuleia Coastline. There is not much nature to speak of as you progress up the mountainside, aside from a few trees here and there at the beginning of the hike. You discover this hidden pond located behind the airstrip that you have no clue is there from the main road. It looked very green, so I'm not sure me and Chinese BU are going swimming there. You also get to see all the prop planes taking off from the airstrip, dragging gliders behind them on a slow, steady upward ascent.

And that's the basic idea for the hiker as well. You keep climbing up the switchbacks until you eventually get to a covered picnic bench (?) bordering an Ironwood grove. This ended up being where we stopped, mostly because of our timeframe and the added troops to the hike roster. Chinese BU and myself most definately wanted to continue exploring past this point, but we had bigger responsibilities and ended up doing the right thing by the teens that had joined us. Honestly, there were a lot of ideas that we had (Trust me, nothing bad or dangerous, just exploratory, I promise) and we knew the teens with us would have been down for the ride, but we both made the good choice.

We also got to do something up there that we had never done previously. We were able to sit down with the teens under the Ironwoods and share some positive ways that we were looking to make changes in our lives. With a big assist from Mitch, we discussed about making improvements with yourself, thus allowing people around you to find ways to improve themselves, which leads to growth and positive changes for all. It was awesome, being able to share this type of stuff with the Teens. We need to do that again!

I would do Kealia again, but only because I want to go past the bench and get to Makua Valley. I imagine that there are many unexplored secrets to be discovered up there, especially the path that leads to the top of Crystal Canyon. Many other ideas come to mind, but I'm alright for now and look forward to future opportunities. Hopefully, Chinese BU took some good pics.

BTW, gotta give some love to Kaleo Lancaster. He took on Piliwale, and left with some pretty major battle scars. I know that won't stop him and his crew from continuing their Island Trails crusade. Do me a favor and go visit his blog. His stuff is mean! Can't wait to read his write-up about Piliwale.