Kailua to Kaneohe

I hiked 7-10 miles from Kailua to Kaneohe with the hope of hooking up with highway 63 in order to find a route across Oahu leading to the Honolulu Airport. Unfortunately, my iPhone map led me to the trailhead to Stairway to Heaven, which is not a route I wanted to use to access the south side of the island. So I turned around and hiked back into Kaneohe, hailed an Uber, and took the easy way over to Honolulu. This hike took me through some nice scenery...pictures of those views are posted below.

Kailua; Oneawa Street.

Mokapu Boulevard.

Looking towards Kane'ohe Bay.

Haiku Neighborhood.

Pillbox Hike - Kailua

I hiked the Pillbox trail in Kailua with Diana Higbee. The trail is mildly steep at the outset but levels off once a ridge is achieved. The "pillboxes" are a series of bunkers I assume were built during WWII in response to the war with Japan. The views from the ridge do not disappoint, and I recommend continuing along the ridge all the way back to street level at Koohoo Place which allows you to complete a 3 mile loop.

Ka'ena Point Trail - North Shore Oahu

I hiked the Ka'ena Point Trail located on the North Shore of Oahu with Diana Higbee. The hike is flat and traverses an endless series of ancient lava flows that have been carved by tremendous wave action over the eons into coves and small caves. The coves are perfect for swimming since larger swells break farther offshore at the edge of shallow lava reefs. We saw hundreds of crabs during the hike, swam for an hour, hiked and explored the lava, and found a pristine view to gaze upon during lunch.

Swimming With Sharks - North Shore of Oahu

I went on a snorkeling expedition with One Ocean Diving [http://www.oneoceandiving.com] during late July. We cruised about 3 miles offshore and then performed a series of boat maneuvers to draw the sharks up toward the surface of the water. Up they came, and in we went...on this day, a group of seven Galapagos Sharks swam about 10 to 20 feet below our snorkel area. It felt safe at all times being in the water with these sharks--surreal is the right word...in fact, the jelly fish floating up toward our location were more menacing than the sharks. I'm glad I had this experience, and would definitely recommend the professionals at One Ocean Diving for future shark adventures.

And...unfortunately I only had an iPhone and no underwater photography equipment...thus no pictures of the sharks :(.

Strawberry Rock - Humboldt County

I hiked up to Strawberry Rock with a group of NWS Eureka summer interns. As always, the brief class 4 scramble up to the summit of the rock was the crux of the trip...but ultimately it wasn't anything anyone couldn't handle. Views of the Pacific coastline were incredible at the top with hardly a cloud in the sky. Pictures are below.

Lava Beds National Monument

Tamara Lopez and myself explored a wide variety of volcanic features contained within Lava Beds National Monument on July 7th. The monument, located just south of Klamath Falls and the Oregon/California border, is probably best known for its lava tubes and caves, which visitors can explore without much restriction. The most difficult caves, rated as "black diamonds" by the park, occasionally require crawling on hands and knees in order to move from one chamber to another. After partaking in a few crawls, I would recommend anyone contemplating an exploration of the more difficult caves to bring knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, and even a hard hat (not to mention light sources). The best cave for exploration in my opinion is "Catacomb Cave," which features over a mile of tubes to explore at different vertical levels. A map of the Catacomb cave system is recommended, as I can attest to almost getting lost while exploring. In addition, once you reach a point deep inside the cave, turn off your headlamps for a couple of minutes and soak in complete sensory deprivation...it is pretty awesome! After exploring the lave caves below ground, and lava fountains and cinder cones above ground, we concluded the trip by viewing ancient petroglyphs that were etched into what was once a rock island surrounded by a shallow prehistoric lake.

Brokeoff Mountain - Lassen Volcanic National Park

Tamara Lopez and myself hiked the rugged remains of a volcano that once rivaled Lassen. Erosive processes both internal and external to the volcano have reduced the volume of the mountain significantly; but there is still plenty left for an epic hiking experience...and that's what Tamara and I had on July 6th. The mountain was loaded with snow, which I personally enjoy due to the extra dimension of complexity it adds to the ascent and descent. We passed through meadows filled with melt water on our way up, and then entered an obvious avalanche zone located on the east-southeast face of the mountain. After moving up through the avy zone, we reached a ridge that we followed to the southwest face of the mountain. We then ascended up to another ridge-line before finally reaching the summit. The views from the top are stupendous...particularly the unrivaled view of Lassen. We met a couple of visitors from Eastern Europe at the top. After a bit of conversation they began the descent down and we followed twenty minutes later. The snow was soft during the descent and we made quick progress back to my truck by plunging downhill and skiing on the soles of our shoes. Microspikes and trekking poles came in handy for this hike, but it's doable without at this point in the summer.