Aiea Loop Trail

Aiea Loop Trail is a 5 mile beginner/intermediate level hike located on Oahu.  It's a relatively flat trail, with some hill climbing, stream crossing, awesome views, and lots of mud... or at least on the day I went.

A group of 17 of us went out around 9:15am and finished the hike about 1:45pm!  It took much longer than the 2 hours that was expected because it was raining off and on all day which made the trail pretty muddy and slippery in come areas.  Plus, the group that went ranged from advanced hikers to total beginners, which meant a lot of waiting around for the back end of the group to catch up.  No big deal since I had nothing else planned for the day.  =)

Polipoli Trail Loop

This hike starts at the Polipoli Springs State Recreation Area, which is an adventure to get to all on it's own.  We passed signs that warned us only 4 x 4 vehicles should follow the road but we took our mini-van and Corolla in anyway.

After an hour of driving on switchbacks, we finally reached the Polipoli Springs park.  From the park, you can access many different hiking trails but we were excited to see the redwood trees. 

Apparently we took the wrong trail and what was supposed to be a leisurely 30 minute down-and-back hike, turned into a 3-hour 5-miler!

But it was totally worth it.

Halemau'u Trail

Another trail up at Haleakala National Park. 

This trail is rated as "difficult", however you an cheat the system by hiking in for 15 minutes and back out... like we did.  We didn't plan on doing the full trail anyway, which is 9 miles long.  We just wanted to check it out. 

Mission accomplished!

Hosmer Grove Trail

Hosmer Grove trail is located in Haleakala National Park on Maui.  It's a relatively short (less than a mile) and easy hike that the entire family can participate in. 

Per Professor Wikipedia, the trail is named after Ralph Hosmer, who introduced several tree species to Hawaii, in hopes of creating a lucrative lumber industry.  Today, some of these species can still be seen on the hike and have become "aggressive invaders" to the native Hawaiian ecosystems in Haleakala National Park.

When I went on the hike, many of the pine and eucalyptus trees were being cleared out.  Trying to make room for a native plant come-back?  I hope so!