So last week Kristin and I decided to go hike the Aiea Loop Trail/Keaiwa Heiau Loop Trail. I hadn't done the trail since I was in elementary school and I severely underestimated the intensity of the hike. I'm not a super in shape person, and thus I suffered for my misjudgment. Although to be fair to the trail, I would've had a much easier time doing it had I not needed to use the bathroom a third of the way in… -_-
In my mind the trail was only a couple of miles long, so I made the foolish mistake of not using the restroom before starting even though I had a venti sized sugary Starbucks concoction en route to the hike. There are two entrances to the hike (both have small parking lots), one at the bottom near the campsite and picnic tables, and one at the top, (both of which have very clean bathroom facilities) we decided to start at the bottom and go up and around… BIG MISTAKE!
It was uphill the entire way. Would've been much more leisurely to have started from the top and gone down… Like EVERYONE else we saw on the hike was doing… We were the only lolos (dummies) going up… Even the super in shape, jogging to trail for exercise folks were going down! Once I'm a bit more in shape and reacclimatized to the humidity here, I wouldn't mind doing the trail again, going up… But for now I think I'll stick to starting at the top and working my way down.
DinoMickey had a blast, but then why wouldn't he? He was carried around in my backpack the entire time!
There are some really pretty views from the trail, which made the trek worth it, even though it was super cloudy and I didn't take any of the harbor views, the valley in which H3 runs through is beautiful. To view the H3 and Pearl Harbor you need to deviate off the main trail, however the paths to good photo opportunities are well used and easy to spot, so no worries of getting lost if you deviate off the main path. 🙂
The whole of the trail is in the middle of lush vegetation, with large shading trees keeping you protected from the sun, and in our case rain. I would however recommend mosquito repellant, because its jungle-esque and wet, there were a lot of mosquitos around, and they love to bite me… It's a miracle I made it out with minimal blood loss!
Enjoy some of the photos from the adventure!
If you find this at the start of your hike, you're at the bottom and will be going up majority of the trail…
The beginning
Don't forget to duck!
A view of the H3 from the trail
The start of the trail from the top… The way I'd recommend going!
All in all the trail was fun, just make sure you're prepared for a 4.5 – 5 mile trek that can be muddy even on relatively dry days, with twists, turns, ups, downs, and areas that require climbing up and over or down and under fallen trees. 🙂
Until the next adventure, stay happy and healthy!
–Getting2KnowL
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