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Postcard from the North Shore
A solitary palm tree standing proudly above Waimea BayWith my week in Honolulu/Waikiki having come to an end, it was time to grab my small backpack and head off up to the North Shore of O'ahu. But in typical fashion I had decided to take the scenic route across to the other side of the island and up the Windward Coast rather than the direct route straight up through the centre of the island, so as to not only sample some of the coastal scenery along the way, but also so that I could take a short detour to visit the Valley of the Temples near Kaneohe (meaning 'Bamboo Man' - for what reason I have absolutely no idea!).
A quiet road lined with palm trees leads through the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park to a beautiful temple known as Byodo-In, which was built entirely out of wood in the traditional way (ie without the use of nails or screws) and is an exact replica of a 900-year-old Buddhist temple in Uji, Japan. The sight of the magnificent red temple backed by the rugged and almost sheer cliffs of the Ko'olau mountain range - with the tops of the mountains constantly shrouded in clouds - is utterly
Buddhist Temple
Byodo-In, in the Valley of the Temples unforgettable, and would remain one of the highlights of my stay on O'ahu.
Housed within the temple is a huge bronze statue of buddha, while surrounding the building is a large ornamental fishpond full of overgrown 'koi' (sacred carp), set amidst a beautifully manicured garden featuring a scattering of quaint wooden footbridges, a small pavilion and a large ceremonial bell. There could be few more serene or contemplative places in which to escape the hustle and bustle of Honolulu and Waikiki than this solitary place, even if the occasional tour bus turns up to disturb the peace and quiet.
After spending an hour or so exploring the Valley of the Temples, I was waiting for the bus that would take me up the Windward Coast when the rainclouds started to close in. And sure enough, as soon as my bus pulled up and I set off across the car park of the shopping centre that I had been waiting at, the rain started to fall. Now having spent two years living in the tropics in northern Queensland when I first started travelling, I was only too aware that when it rains in the tropics, it's not like the
Intricate facade; Imposing backdrop
Byodo-In, with the Ko'olau Mountains rising steeply behind annoying light rain that always seems to fall in the UK or Vancouver - to which I had become accustomed over the past three years - but often a full-on torrential downpour.
Yet despite this knowledge, and the fact that I already had my umbrella at the ready, I made the fatal mistake of getting it caught in one of my flip-flops as I tried to retrieve it from a side-pocket on the outside of my backpack. It would prove to be a fatal mistake - for in the four or five seconds that it took me to get my umbrella open, I got completely drenched! Clearly this was Hawai'i's way of welcoming me back to the tropics, and I couldn't help but laugh (once I had finished cursing at least) as I hopped onboard the bus, by now suddenly soaking wet!
Soon enough though this had all been forgotten, as I had the pleasure of watching some beautiful coastal scenery unfold before me as the bus wound it's way slowly up the Windward coast, before we eventually rounded the point at Turtle Bay and arrived on the North Shore. Now anyone who has ever taken even a
North Shore special
Palm trees keeping watch over Sunset Beach passing interest in surfing would undoubtedly have heard of O'ahu's fabled North Shore, where massive winter swells roar up out of the depths of the Pacific Ocean and crash into the island's northern beaches with a force that has to be seen to be believed. Of course, I had only ever seen such waves on surfing documentaries, and I certainly wasn't going to have the opportunity to witness such epic surf on this trip, as the winter swells had already made way for the calm, swimmer-friendly waves of Hawai'i's summer months.
Nevertheless it was pretty cool to be able to visit some of the most famous spots in the surfing world, with my hostel being only a five-minute walk from the aptly-named Sunset Beach - which not only hosts one leg of the Hawai'ian Triple Crown of Surfing every november/december; but is also as good a spot as any from which to watch the sunset... preferably with a cold bottle of local beer in hand, which was a practice I would come to repeat on a daily basis for the duration of my stay.
Just a mile down the road from Sunset Beach is yet another surf break
Hallowed Ground
The beach at Banzai Pipeline that has long been etched into surfing folklore: Banzai Pipeline, home of the Pipeline Masters (another leg of the Triple Crown). And while the surf there may have been nothing special during my visit, any doubt about the power and ferocity of the waves during the winter months would be dispelled by a single look at the wooden board behind the beach, where a list engraved in the wood on one side records the winners of each year's Pipeline Masters; while on the other side another list pays tribute to those who have died surfing Pipeline. There were 25 names on the winners' list, and 19 names on the other side.
For my first full day on the North Shore (tuesday 23rd April) I first set off to follow a short hiking trail that the owners of my hostel had told me about the previous day. Starting from beside the school in Sunset Beach, it led to a World War II bunker atop the low ridge that runs parallel to the shore just behind the hostel, and from where the views of the North Shore were sublime. From there I took the bus down the coast to Haleiwa, which
Sacred Strand
The beach at Waimea Bay despite having a population of just five thousand is by far the biggest settlement on the North Shore, such is the quiet and sparsely populated nature of the area - which comes as a most refreshing change after the in-your-face assault on the senses of Waikiki, which is perhaps the only place I have ever visited that reminded me of Surfers Paradise in Australia.
Returning to Sunset Beach I couldn't help but get off the bus a few minutes early to check out the beautiful beach I had seen on my way past that morning - Waimea Bay. Yet another world-famous big wave surf spot, this one seemed to have something more to offer than just great winter waves for surfers - it really is a beautiful place in it's own right. From the winding river that emerges from the depths of Waimea (Reddish Water) Valley to empty out into the sea, to the perfect curve of the bay with it's steep slopes on either side, to the copious amount of beautiful golden sand on the beach itself - it wasn't hard to see why the Ancient Hawai'ians had considered this place to be sacred.
Having explored the
High above Hau'ula
Taking a break on the Hau'ula-Papali trail North Shore pretty thoroughly on tuesday, I got up early the next day and took the bus back down the Windward Coast to a small town called Hau'ula (Red Hau tree), from where I set out on a double loop hike that explored some of the forested ridges and valleys directly inland from the town; with the best views coming towards the end of the second loop, where a prominent ridge high above the town offered a wonderful panorama of land, sea and sky stretching out in both directions up and down the coastline. And having worked up quite a sweat along the way, it was with great relief that I was able to cool off with a refreshing dip in the ocean back at Hau'ula Beach Park.
With the whole of the afternoon still ahead of me and with the sun still shining down upon me, I then took another bus slightly further down the coast to a beautiful beach that I had passed on the bus two days earlier, at a place called Kahana (Cutting) Bay. With a perfect crescent of sand backed by steep, forested ridges on either side - and with barely another person in
Graceful Curve
Kahana Bay beach sight - it would have been an ideal place to lie back and relax, but of course I had other ideas.
Directly behind Kahana Bay lies Kahana Valley, which is only scarcely populated by a few native Hawaiian families in it's lower reaches, and then completely uninhabited beyond that. It also happens to contain another double loop hike of approximately six miles that I had been hoping to complete, as the rainforest scenery along the way was said to be most impressive. There was only one problem. Kahana Valley is not only considered to be one of the most beautiful valleys on the island, but also the wettest. And as if to prove this point, no sooner had I left the beach and started to venture 'mauka' (towards the mountains/inland) than the blue sky overhead disappeared under a blanket of rather threatening-looking dark grey clouds.
Undeterred, I set out on the first loop trail, reassuring myself that if the weather deteriorated I could always skip the second loop and shorten the hike to around three miles. Sure enough, the rain started to fall not long after, starting out as a gentle drizzle (as if to lull me into
Tranquil Oasis
Kahana Bay Beach Park a false sense of security) before slowly building in intensity, until eventually the heavens opened and I was caught in the midst of a full-blown tropical downpour! But of course by this time I was already halfway around the loop, so I figured I might as well keep going since I would have just as far to go if I turned back as I would if I pressed on ahead (not to mention the fact that I hate backtracking...).
What I hadn't taken into account was that I still had to cross Kahana Stream. And so, about two miles into what should have only been a three mile hike, I suddenly came to an abrupt halt at the edge of the stream... where I was confronted by a torrent of water about ten metres across, somehwere between one and three feet deep, and flowing incredibly quickly; no doubt swollen from all of the rain that had fallen. With a camera, phone and wallet in my small backpack - and having lost both a camera and phone when the same backpack had ended up in a river in Turkey two years earlier - I thankfully elected to cut my losses
Heading for the Hills
Approaching the Waianae cliffs and head back the way I had come, even though it meant having to spend another hour traipsing through the same mud that I had already had to endure! Needless to say I was pretty relieved to get back to the North Shore later that afternoon, where thankfully I still had time to watch the sunset with a cold beer in hand!
Being the glutton for punishment that I am - and with the blue skies of the previous morning thankfully having returned - I borrowed a bicycle from one of the girls at the hostel on thursday, took it with me on the bus to Haleiwa, and then cycled about ten miles west from Haleiwa to Dillingham Airfield, and all for the purpose of tackling yet another hike - this time the steep climb up the Kealia trail, which winds it's way through twenty switchbacks up the face of an exposed ridge that offers outstanding views along the entire length of O'ahu's North Shore. After reaching the top of the ridge the trail then continues upwards through the forest before coming to an end at a magnificent viewpoint that looks out over a vast and uninhabited valley (Makua
Vertiginous View
Looking back down the coast from the Kealia trail Valley) on the Leeward Coast, some 2000-feet above sea level.
While soaking up the incredible views over lunch, I was joined by a mother and son from Chicago who happened to be staying in the room opposite me at the hostel in Sunset Beach. And so, having told them of a three mile loop trail (the Kuaokala trail) that circled around the top of the ridge before re-joining the Kealia trail, we decided to set off along this other trail, figuring it wouldn't take too long to complete and we would be rewarded with some great views of the Leeward Coast along the way.
Well, we were right about the great views at least. Unfortunately though the trail in question seemed to disappear underneath a carpet of pine needles after a couple of miles, at which point we were just about to turn back when I discovered a dirt road not far away. Figuring that the road would surely lead us in the right direction, we followed it for a further mile or so until we came to a junction marked with a sign pointing in the direction of the Kealia trail - which unfortunately was still three
Worth the Climb
View of Makua Valley from the end of the Kealia trail miles away! Nevertheless, we took heart from the fact that we were now most definitely heading in the right direction and that within about an hour we should back where we had come from... that was until we came upon another junction, then another, and then another - none of which were marked in any way!
So with no directions of any kind to guide us, we chose to go left at each junction - as this would take us in a northerly direction, and it was back to the north shore that we were ultimately headed. Yet somehow this only seemed to lengthen our walk, as we found ourselves winding our way in and out of every little side gulch along the way, so that for every mile we walked we only seemed to proceed a few hundred metres along the ridge. It was around this time that I discovered that my companions had neither brought with them any food to eat nor anywhere near enough water for anything other than a short hike!
Onwards and onwards we walked, continuing to follow the same dirt road since there didn't seem to be any other alternative, for mile
Bird's Eye View
View of the Leeward Coast from the Kauokala trail after mile, and whenever we thought we might actually be making some progress we would round a bend only to find the road once again heading off in the opposite direction to that which we wanted to go. Hours passed by without any real indication that we were actually going to make it back to the trail that had brought us up onto the ridge in the first place, and as the sun sank further and further toward the horizon I must admit I started to seriously doubt whether we would be able to make it down off the ridge before nightfall, and had considered asking the others whether they thought we should try calling for help on one of their mobile phones.
But then just when I was starting to give up hope of us making it down before sunset - since there was little more than an hour of sunlight left in the day and we still had to first find the trail that would lead us down off the ridge and then negotiate the thousand-foot-plus descent in fading daylight - we rounded a bend in the road and found ourselves back at the Kealia trail, at
Long Way Down
View from the Kauokala trail least four hours after we had left it! Our shared sense of relief was overwhelming - especially given that we had just finished our last reserves of water! Slowly but surely we made our way down the steep slope one switchback at a time, until eventually we made it back to the car park from which we had started out just as the sun disappeared from the sky altogether... and only minutes before airport security locked the gates at the entrance to the airport!
But if I thought my adventure was over for the day, I was sadly mistaken! First I still had to cycle the ten miles or so back to Haleiwa in almost total darkness along a main road and without any street lights to light the way; and then, after waiting for about fifteen minutes at a large roundabout just outside Haleiwa for the next bus back to Sunset Beach, I asked the driver of another bus whether he knew how much longer I would have to wait, only for him to tell me 'the bus you want is waiting over there, on the other side of the roundabout'!
You could probably guess what happened
Almost There
Nearing the end of an unexpectedly long day next. I hopped straight on my bicycle and pedalled as fast as I could around the gargantuan roundabout, only to see the bus in question pull away from the curb and take off down the road as soon as I got within about fifty metres of it! But knowing that the next bus wouldn't be for another hour - and by now desperately in need of a cool shower, a filling meal and a cold beer - there was no way I was going to let that bus go without a fight!
For two miles I followed that bus, pedalling as fast as I possibly could whilst completey disregarding every other vehicle on the road! Sometimes I would fall more than a hundred metres behind as the bus would disappear around the next bend, other times I would pull to within twenty metres only for the bus to accelerate away again; but all the while I refused to give in, telling myself that if I could just keep the bus in my sights then when we reached the Haleiwa River it would surely have to stop - not only to pick up passengers but also to wait for a
Golden Glow
Sunset Beach living up to it;s name break in traffic coming from the other direction, as the bridge is only one lane wide.
And sure enough, as the bus pulled over to let people on and I flew down the shoulder of the road towards it, I shouted out 'hold the bus!' as loud as my oxygen-starved lungs would allow... and wouldn't you know it, the last person to get on the bus heard my voice, hopped back off the bus to investigate, and then managed to stall the bus driver just long enough for me to catch up to the bus and throw my bicycle on the front rack before the driver could object!
It was only much later on that night, long after my intrepid companions had gone to bed - which in fact they had already done before I even made it back to the hostel - that I discovered a guidebook in the living room entitled 'Hiking in O'ahu'. Flicking through the book I found a detailed description of the dreaded Kuaokala trail, which contained an exerpt from a topographical map of the area; and upon closer inspection I was able to locate the numerous dirt hunters' roads that we had
Silhouettes at Sunset
The lifeguard tower at Sunset Beach - the perfect place for a sundowner encountered on top of the ridge.
It was only then that I discovered the error of our ways - at each of the three junctions we had passed we were supposed to have gone to the right, which would have led us along the spine of the ridge and indeed back to the intersection with the Kealia trail in a matter of about three miles; just as the lone road sign had indicated. By going left at each junction, we had in fact taken the longest route possible back to our intended destination, and had probably walked the best part of nine miles instead! I knew only one thing for sure: friday was going to be a rest day!
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