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Started off the day with an Acai bowl ($7.50USD) at Hawaiian Crown Plantation (159 Kaiulani Ave – 105). Our destination for the day was Manoa Falls. The boys rented mopeds while the rest of us took the bus up. It’s beautiful. Hawaii 5-0 and Jurassic park were/are filmed here. Since we decided to go on the bus, it took forever after getting on the 8 bus to Ala Moana and waiting there for the 5 bus to Moana Valley. It’s a whole different area being in the valley between mountains. So tropical but the houses on the hillside reminded me of Jamaica homes. By the time we reached our destination, we realized after standing for a good 20 minutes that the boys had already parked and were already half ascended to the mountain top. We then hiked as a group with some difficult areas to the falls. Being a tropical area, there was rainfall which made the hike more difficult and muddy. Jaira had received a text from the boys telling us that there was a hiking trail to the top after you have reached the waterfall to take you to a higher elevation. The waterfall was pretty and we thought the hike to the top would be relatively short similar to our ascent to the falls. We then decided to go all the way up to join them. It was the Manoa cliff trail and it continued onto the Pauoa Flats trails. Worst decision especially on a rainy day. The parent’s were struggling just to get to the waterfalls so they went back down but the trails we continued on got windier and muddier. At first I was trying to avoid ruining my shoes but by the end of it, I got up and didn’t care where I stood as my shoes would be engulfed in the mud.
The hike above the falls to the top took about and hour and half – two hours. It started raining harder. Two gave up half way and the rest of us (8 of us) kept going up to join the boys. There was spot along the way up that is definitely worth seeing. The trail opens up and the mountain trail turns into a deep curve where the trees create a vignette that surrounds an open clearing to see what is held beneath and that was the only thing worth it. From that point, it was another 30 minutes until we would reach the top. Reaching the top, the lookout point was cloudy and raining making it hard to see anything. Disappointed by the lack of view after a grueling hike, I had no care in the world and pushed through hard to descend. In total, we hiked 7KM/ 13000 ft.
Jennifer and myself led the pack back down. It was actually easier to go down especially since I had put my camera away and was using both hands to grapple and manoeuvre. We had to wait for everyone else to finish their hike before we could leave as the boys drove mopeds and the rest needed to cab back together. It actually took 1-2 hours for the cabs because of the area we were in and they were looking for a cab that took 7 specifically. We ended up staying there all miserable and wet but the convenience store staff felt bad for us and said that if his wife came before the cabs, that they would drive us back for free. Luckily 2 taxi’s came and we made our way back. When we got back to the hotel, we threw all of our shoes into the washer.
For dinner, we as a group of 15 went to the Cheesecake Factory (2301 kalakaua ave). I had the Kalua Pig Pizza ($13.50USD) and the white chocolate raspberry truffle cake ($7.95USD).
