Waikamoi Nature trail, Haiku, HI 1/24/19

The Famous Road to Hana offers 55 miles of driving on a narrow, windy, mountainous road with too many one-way bridges to count. Drivers are supposed to yield to oncoming traffic on the single-lane bridges but what do you do when faced with a sharp turn and no visibility?   Aside from the stress of driving, views of both the rain forest and the ocean are spectacular. 

 Lunch stop short hike on the Road to Hana.  We figured we could take a short hike to views overlooking the area. 

Trail started out challenging but doable until we ran into some serious obstacles ....... we climbed over a couple of these and then ran into some serious mud and turned around. 

Waihee Costal Dunes and Wetlands Refuge, Maui, HI, 1/23/19

 

 End-of-the-day 2.4-mile walk by the shoreline passing dried-up wetlands and a number of historically important sites. Hawaiians understood the importance water and settled in areas with lots of fresh water. "Wai" as in "Hawaii" means "water." They build large fishponds and grew taro in irrigated fields. 

 Remains of a heiau or temple/shrine (bombed during World War II), now off limits to the public and,

now guarded by a spider :)

Wailee Ridge trail, Maui, HI, 2/23/19

On the walk to the trailhead, we had our first of many sightings of a cattle egret.  

Set off panoramic view of west Maui at the top of Wailee only to find that the parking lot at the trailhead was completely full.  Had to drive to the overflow parking one mile down hill. This added an additional mile to our hike each way.  First 2 miles meandered steadily uphill through conifer forest including stately Norfolk pines.

The trail then opened up to gorgeous views of the valley to the east,


 
and to the ocean on the west. 

 

 We had been advised to go early as clouds move in and obstruct the views by late morning. Given our extra mile of hiking to reach the trailhead from the overflow parking, it was past 11 am when we reached open spaces. Just a bit further up, we found ourselves in fog and a misty rain. With limited visibility, we decided to turn back.  Total hike: 4.3 miles, ~1200 ft elevation.

Iao Valley Trail, Maui, HI, 1/22/19

Very first hike of our 3-week-long discovery adventure of beautiful Maui. This "hike" was just a short stroll to a viewpoint. Our travel guide discribed this hike as appropriate "for anyone, including grandparents." It was the perfect intro to Maui, its rain forests, volcanic rocks, and .....

Banyan trees.

Sandia Mountain Snowshoe, NM, 1/16/19

NM Mountain Club snowshoe from Ellis trailhead to tram upper terminal and back, about 4 miles round trip. Fifteen of us weaved our way around the trails to snowshoe in deep snow.  
A winter wonderland it was, although foggy and cold.

Sandia Foothills hike, 1/9/19

Missed today's Wednesday Mountain Club snowshoe and instead set out for a hike in the foothills, from the Menaul trailhead to some way south below the Indian School trailhead and back.  All in all 4 miles with ~900 feet elevation.  Some snow and mud on the trail, no ice.

City of Rocks, Faywood, NM, 11/5/18

 Strolled among a wonderland of rocks with astonishing views to boot on our way to a 2-day stay at Faywood hot springs in southern NM.