Trekking Thursday

Bumble

If you have ever visited the island of Oahu in Hawaii, you have probably seen the iconic “Tripler Army Medical Center.” Even if you haven’t been here, you have probably seen it on Hawaii Five-O if you are a fan as it’s the hospital they bring several “gun shot wound” or “explosive wounded” people due to it being a military hospital. To the locals, we call it the “pink hospital.”

I had heard there was a hike up the ridge line behind the hospital but I had never been to it myself. Luckily, my kids hiking group was doing a hike here and I was asked to help lead!

This trail is about 5 miles round trip.

You begin in base housing and follow a black top road for about 1.5 miles. This is a pretty steep and steady incline. It had us all pretty winded. It was by-far the toughest part of the hike. Which wasn’t bad at all-just a lung tester! ha

During this bumble up the hill, be sure to turn around and take in the great view of neighboring ridge lines, the Waianae Mountains, Tripler, Pearl Harbor and Honolulu.

When you reach the end of the paved portion, you will reach a radio transmission station. You be relieved to see a nice little open area where you can stop and catch your breath and take a little break if you want. There is also a nice view from this spot.

From this point forward, you will travel through a nice forest with several types of trees. The bark was such a pretty copper color! Keep an eye out for some fun little Jackson’s Chameleons and even some guava fruit when in season.

There is also a tall grassy section (the grass can be sharp so don’t play with it). This short section is a little narrow so be careful of your footing.

From the radio transmission center, through the jungle and tall grass to where we ended at a large boulder was about another mile. This spot had a really nice overlook which rewarded us with views of the Windward side of the island.

We sat and enjoyed the view while we snacked on some peanut butter and celery.

When we were ready, we followed the same path back to the trail head. We are always ready for some ice-cream after a good hike like this! This hike takes about 3-4 hours. So we were good and ready for a treat!

This was such a nice hike! I can’t wait to do this again!

With Aloha,

Lacy

Click here to see how others responded to today’s prompt word: Bumble

Here are a few of my favorite responses:

https://insach21site.wordpress.com/2017/07/13/from-bumble-to-humble/

https://imageandword.wordpress.com/2017/07/13/daily-prompt-bumble-bees/comment-page-1/#comment-4422

https://carolyndenniswillingham.com/2017/07/13/if-it-crawls-up-your-drawers/