Entries tagged 'hiking'
Outdoor Ohana: Wonderful Site for Family Activities on Oahu
Allison from OutdoorOhana,com sent me a link to her site a few weeks ago and I was extremely impressed. There is a ton of good information on child-friendly outdoor activities on Oahu, including the all-important shade factor. Coverage is primarily...
Hawaii Volcanoes Lava Poke - Don't Try This At Home
Very cool video. You actually can that close to the stuff at HAVO coming out of Kilauea. All that said, you better be careful and make sure you are going only when the rangers say A-OK....
Hold the Phone, Haleakala Cabins Lottery Gone: Maui Camping Gets Better
One o the primo destinos in all of Hawaii for camping has long been Haleakala Crater on the island of Maui. Alas, the hadnful of cabins operated by the National Park Service have long been next to impossible to nail...
Maui Hiking: Lower Makamaka'ole Valley
John Fischer from About.com gives a nice write up of a hike he took to the Lower Makamaka'ole Valley with Hike Maui. Nice waterfalls, interesting native plants, archaeological ruins -- sounds all good to me. Only bummer is the...
National Geographic Kalalau Article Is Dumb: Sez Kauai's Hiking Blogger
And I totally agree with him. This article is beyond predictable, beyond trite. I have no idea why National Geo would pay megabucks to get this sort of tripe but hey, it's a plum gig. Here's what Andy has to...
No K9 Love on Kauai: Pups Banned from Coastal Trail
From the Honolulu Star- Bulletin. "Kauai dog owners are incensed at the county's plan to ban dogs along the new $50 million, 16-mile coastal path set to link Lihue and Anahola." Can't blame them. Can't we all get along?...
The World's Most Dangerous Guidebook: Google Earth Takes Us To Untouched Hawaii Waterfalls
Kauai hiking blogger Andy takes us on a (semi) harrowing trip (not) to a monstrous waterfall glimpsed from GoogleEarth that's apparently a stone's throw from Wailua Falls. Andy, you can't put this kind of stuff on the Innernut, my friend!...
State Parks Roundup from Hawaii Mag
My friend Derek Paiva over at the Hawaii Magazine blog runs through the 10 most popular state parks with a quick and dirty pros and cons list (most of which you won't get in the guide books). A few additions:...
My Maui Vacation: Cover Story of U.S. Airways Inflight
The kind folks at U.S. Airways put my homage to slumming across Maui on the cover of their esteemed publication. The art looks great. It's a tough life being a travel writer. Here' s a taste....
Beginner Hikes on Oahu: Four Fine Hikes
The Honolulu Advertiser includes in its Living in Paradise publication a list of four nice beginner hikes on Oahu. I heartily concur with the selection -- three of the four are easy as can be and one of them the...
Big Island Travel: Waipio Valley in Coastal Living
In the May 2007 edition, senior editor Steve Millburg gives a quick taste of a hike I've long wanted to take, circling the rim of Waipio Valley, a lush, massive valley on the Hamakua Coast of the Big Island. I've...
Hawaii Hiking: Kauai's Kalalau Trail -- Signature Hike Dangerouly Deteriorated on Na Pali Coast
The Garden Isle on Kauai has an article about the famed Kalalau Trail, a trek along the base of the sea cliffs on the uninhabited northern side of the island. No roads there but plenty of waterfalls. Access comes...
Hawaii Trips: Scout Troop's Trek to Kauai: Walking the Cliffs
Editor's note: This is an article I originally wrote for Scouting Magazine in 1999. It was a lot of fun to research and write. On the Hawaiian island of Kauai, Scouts from Troop 451 moved in single file along a...
Hawaii Adventure Travel: Quick and Dirty Oahu Guide
Honolulu is just five hours from California, but ditch Waikiki for the other Oahu, where coastal roads pass dozens of empty beaches and solitary trails lead to jaw-dropping ocean vistas. Bike Hawaii (877-682-7433) will bring you to Kaaawa Valley, a...
Hawaii Nature: Into the Ancient Forests of Maui
I've long been a fan of Maui-based writer Paul Wood, whose quirky musings have graced a number of publications. Here's a really nice article he wrote about the remnant forests on Maui for the most recent edition of Spirit of...
Hawaii Hiking: Kokee on Kauai: Great Article in NYT -- A Must See Place That Most Don't
I've long been a fan of the New York Times' travel section. It's both literate and fun. Their coverage of Hawaii has been excellent. The most recent offering, which came out on May 4, covered Kokee State Park on Kauai....
Hikes for Tykes: Kohala Waterfall Tour on Big Island
In the Kohala District of the Big Island, clouds of mist collide with volcanic mountain ranges. The resulting rains fill hundreds of mountain streams and create numerous waterfalls, most of which are not accessible to the public. This region is...
Maui Triple Play: Kayak, Snorkel, Waterfall Trek -- In A Single Day
I've hoofed it over the years a few times with Ken Schmitt's Hike Maui team and they are extremely professional and fun to hang out with. For the most part I've only hiked. That said, I find the idea of...
Honolulu Picnic Paradise: Waahila Ridge
One of the great things about Honolulu is that from virtually any place in the city you are only 15 to 20 minutes away from a relatively pristine, uncrowded hiking trail or spot of breathtaking scenic beauty. Witness Waahila Ridge...
Reader Response: Hikes for Tykes in Hawaii
A few posts back I asked readers of Hawaiirama to tell me where they liked to go hiking with their keiki. This was one of my first stabs at interactivity, supposedly a strength of blogs. Lo, I got one response...
Favorite Hiking Trails for Kids: Sez You?
Hawaiirama ended up featured prominently on a StumbleUpon reccomendation page pointing towards our kids coverage. Which, alas, has been sadly lagging considering how many keiki live here and how many visit. Which gives me the nudge-nudge to do what I...
Hawaii YouTube Video of the Day: Kalalau Trail on Kauai
The Kalalau is one of the most storied hiking trails on Earth. In fact, the whole Na Pali Coast, along the western shore of Kauai, is recognized by the United Nations as a World Heritage site. The cliffs basically...
Hawaii YouTube Video: Hiking Koko Head - 1050 Steps
A long video showing the hike up and views from Koko Head, a part of a collapsed volcanic crater in East Honolulu. This is one of Oahu's best accessible hikes, though climbing the stairs can be -- gulp --...
Lava Flow Update: PeleTurns Off the Spigot
Madame Pele doesn't really stick to a schedule or an itinerary. The Volcano Goddess of Hawaiian myths and legends is capricious and hard to predict. Which may explain why you really can't plan ahead for volcano watching trips. The Kilauea...
Earthquake Update: Ohelo Gulch, Pipiwai Reopened on Road to Hana
Right on schedule, Maui County opened a temporary bridge to replace the Paihi span damaged in the October 16 earthquake. This means waterfall fans can return to Ohelo Gulch (the tourist name for the place is Seven Sacred Pools though...
Hawaii Beaches: Mahaulepu Beach, Pick of Kauai's South Shore
The drive to Maha'ulepu Beach takes you through the dusty remnants of a now dormant suger cane plantation along Kauai's sunny southern shore. Go to the eastern end of Poipu Road where the pavement turns into a rutted dirt road....
Earthquake Update: Big Island -- Polulu Trail Reopens
The October quake struck pretty much directly off the coast of North Kohala on the Big Island. Access to Polulu Valley, a sheer amphitheater valley literally at the end of the road in North Kohala, was shut down after big...
Hawaii Travel: YouTube Vide of the Day
We've written about the Pipiwai Trail past Hana on Maui. It's currently closed due to quake damage to century-old bridges along the Hana Highway. But here's a taste of what it looks like to whet your waterfall whistle. Related...
Earthquake Update: Kipahulu, Ohelo Gulch Still Closed
Quick update on the situation for the Road to Hana on Maui, where FEMA and county officials have closed bridges on either side of the Kipahulu District Area in Haleakala National Park, the home to an extremely popular hike (the...
Earthquake Update: Mostly Back to Normal, Trail Closures
Almost all the hotels impacted are completely back to normal now. The Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows reopened its top floor and now all its room are back in business. I am not certain about the ocean wing of...
Hawaii Hotel Deals: Turtle Bay on Sale, $199
Credit to Hapa Hale for spotting a killer deal at Turtle Bay, $199 per night. Not sure what this exactly buys you in terms of views, but most of the rooms at the resort have an ocean view of...
Hikes to Die For: The Three Most Brutal Hikes in Hawaii
Some people come to Hawaii to lie on the beach and drink Mai Tais. Others feel the need for extreme physical exertion on their vacations. I can be prone to that tendency, sadly enough, and can relate. The only...
Great Hikes: The Waihee Ridge Trail
This trail in central Maui near the country seat of Wailuku is actually one of the few state maintained trails on the Valley Isle that lie relatively close to the major resort areas. Most trails are further up Haleakala Volcano...
Kilauea Night Hike: Part 4
Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this serial article. Rather than pour freely, the lava oozes along like an amoeba growing in many different directions, like an enormous lava blob. Small breakout pools of shimmering pahoehoe...
Kilauea Night Hike: Part 3
Read Part 1 and Part 2 of this serial article. Kaye, who specializes in building maps and collecting data using images snapped by satellites, has spent his time at the Observatory helping scientists draw some of the most accurate...
Two Great Hikes on Maui
The Valley Isle has 16 hiking trails maintained and marked by the state and about a dozen others inside Halekala National Park, one of the most amazing parks in the world. The majority of these hikes on Maui are...
Kilauea Night Hike: Part 2
(Read part 1) On this evening, the flows have moved within a mile of the end of the road, and hundreds of people are trekking to see them. We see old folks walking carefully over the lava and dads...
Hikes for Tykes: Ia'o Rainforest Walk
We love to take walks here during the midday hours when Maui is hot. This is a very short hike and should take, with kids, probably, 20 minutes or so. They may want to linger over the rushing stream...
Kilauea Night Hike: Part 1
A bipolar world of dark lava fields and green, dense forests unfolds along the serpentine Chain of Craters Road in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii Island. On this evening, Grant Kaye, a geologist near the end of a...
Waimanu Valley: Remote, Rugged, Magical
One of seven amphitheater valleys carved from the extinct Kohala Volcano along the northern shore of the Big Island, Waimanu Valley is something of a Holy Grail to Hawaii hikers. Abandoned in the late 1940s, it's one of the few...
Kokee: Birds, Bean Soup, Awesome Views
To my right the steep crumbling cliffs of the Na Pali Coast plunge 3,000 feet into a blue sea. To my left a ravine of ohia trees is vibrant with vermilion blossoms. I am standing on the serpentine Awaawapuhi...
Hikes for Tykes
Hiking with junior can be tricky in the islands. Many trails are extremely exposed to the elements or unstable and in dangerously steep terrain. This trail is almost made for kids. It starts in the back of Maunawili Valley,...
Online Oahu Hiking Guide Without Words
Phillip Robbins obviously has waaaayyyy too much time on his hands. The young Honolulu resident has put up an impressive hiking trail Website that covers 95 popular and not-so-popular (and some downright dangerous) trails on Oahu. Robbins has dozens...
