Ka'ena Point Hike

In June Caleb and I hiked to the most remote part of Oahu. And it was lovely! We needed a break from all things touristy and needed to get ourselves lost in some nature. It would have been rather impossible to get lost on this hike. Our trail was a coastal trail that stayed right along the ocean the whole trek. Being on an island we couldn't get lost sticking to the coast, we would've ended up rounding the tip of the island putting us on the north shore. The point of the trail is on the northwestern corner of the island. The red arrow shows Ka'ena point and the arrow farther south shows where we live.

This hike is called Ka'ena Point Hike. It makes my mental list of cool memories from Hawaii because of two reasons. One was because I was hiking it with my best friend. Ah, I know mushy stuff right there. And the second reason was because we liked the remote-ness of this hike and the views of the island while hiking along the coast.

The first half of our hike started out quite differently than the picture above shows. We started with a foggy overcast sky and with sprinkling rain. The picture below was our first view of the trail. Two other cars were parked at the trailhead and we wondered if they were debating the same thoughts as us. To hike or not to hike. We came with our rain jackets and shoes knowing they could get muddy (we've discovered you can usually count on their being mud hiking on Oahu especially the rainforest hikes). We decided to take the plunge and start the hike seeing how far we could make it. **spoiler alert** We did the whole hike. 

It was obvious we were going to have the trail mostly to ourselves with these conditions. Despite the mud, rain, and no views due to the fog and clouds, we were quite happy with our decision to hike. I was a bit giddy laughing at my feet and sandals sinking into the mud. As we hiked the clouds and fog started lifting and blue skies started peeking through.

 The blue of the water stood out against the contrast of the black volcanic rock of the coast.

Caleb is throwing the camera a shaka but it was too zoomed out to catch it. 

The hike took us out to the point of the island where there is a Natural Area Reserve. This is to protect the ecosystem of native plants, dunes, and animals. There is a sectioned off area where we saw birds nesting and albatross dancing. Yes, we watched albatross dance. They were quite comical when they ran and walked too. Caleb said watching them reminded him of the animated movie with mice Rescuers Down Under where the albatross, Orville, has a funny odd waddle run. They did a pretty accurate job in that animated movie for what albatross look like while running. We were intrigued watching the albatross dance and listening to their calls when we first noticed them so we weren't thinking about taking videos or pictures. This video is only a short clip showing them dancing. You can click on the box for it to start playing.

Albatross couple doing what they do

this cute couple out doing what they do adventuring together

We loved being on a part of the island where there were no cars or buildings. It was fun to be the only people on that part of the island enjoying it's natural beauty. I loved listening to the birds and the waves crash during the hike. This trail isn't a secret or hidden trail, but you have to drive a bit out of the towns until the road ends on the coast to get to it. The weather definitely also helped in keeping it less traveled the day we decided to hike.