Trekking Thursday

via Daily Prompt: Total

I’ve shared in a previous post my experience of hiking up Koko Head (Koko Crater) which is a hiking trail consisting of only old railway tiles (1,048 of them to be exact). These tiles take you up a very steep and long incline to the top of the former volcano! You can read that post here if you missed it: 1,048 Stairs of DOOM…with kids

This morning, the kids and I had a total different experience of Koko Crater. Instead of climbing UP it, we explored INSIDE it at the Botanical Gardens.

A friend of mine and I co-lead a group of 6 mommas (and a bunch of adorable kiddos) to a hike through the gardens called: Koko Crater Botanical Gardens.

Who would’ve ever thought you could find a Botanical Garden inside a volcano crater which erupted 100’s of years ago? It was our first time visiting there so we were pretty excited to check it out. I have to say, I was very surprised at how big it was and how much there was to see. The kids (ages 10 months-7 years old) were very engaged the entire time.

The full trail is about 2 miles long. There are a few collections which are arranged according to geography including the Americas, Hawaii, Madagascar, and Africa. Today, we only visited a few of them with the Plumeria Grove and the cacti collection being our favorites! Baobabs, aloes, Adeniums, Euphorbias, Hawaiian Wiliwili trees and dry lands palms can all be found in the garden as well.

The garden itself is 60 acres and began development in 1958. The primary goal is to establish rare or endangered plants which thrive in the desert-like conditions.

Here are a few snapshots of our favorite’s of today!

I can’t share these pictures without mentioning how amazing the Plumeria Grove was! It smelled like we just walked into a Yankee Candle or Bath & Bodyworks store. Plumeria! Plumeria! Plumeria! Even the ground was carpeted with fallen Plumeria flowers.

In addition to these beautiful flowers, we also had the opportunity to see some pretty unique cacti and desert plants! Here are just a few of them!

As you can tell, there was so much to see! I am really hoping to go back soon and explore the entire garden! This is one of the 5 most popular Botanical Gardens on Oahu. I’ve visited a few of them. But, now I have a goal of exploring each one!

I hope you enjoyed my recap of the Koko Crater Botanical Gardens! If so, please like, comment and share 🙂

With Aloha,

Lacy

Want to see how others responded to today’s daily word prompt: Total

https://andsoitisborn.wordpress.com/2017/06/15/a-performance/

https://wordsonwingsblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/15/total-recall/

https://damswriter.com/2017/06/15/paragon-of-love/

https://pipersadventures.blog/2017/06/15/total/